A Peculiar Love
by Shawn45
Summary: She knew it was wrong, and she knew it was disgusting, but Ib knew that she loved her adopted sister, Mary. She only hoped that it would stay a secret forever... And why does looking at this yellow candy keep bringing up a vague memory? Ib/Mary YURI, Several OCs.
1. Childhood Love

**Warning: This story contains yuri! If that isn't your cup of tea, then I advise you to not read this story.**

Childhood Love

Ib cringed when Garry started to put more and more of his weight onto her as they walked down the long narrow hallway, his breathing was slowly becoming strained, and his steps were more sporadic and uneven. He suddenly tripped over his own two feet, sending the two of them falling to the ground. Ib let out a cry and was fortunately able to land on her arms, and Garry was able to land with his back to the wall, letting out a loud groan as he slowly slid down his back so he was sitting on the ground. He continued to gasp out in pain, and it was clear to both of them that he wasn't going to make it.

"Garry!" Ib cried, kneeling down next to him, "Get up!" She grabbed his arm and pulled. Garry tried to get up, but he fell back down a few seconds after. He was far too heavy for Ib to try to lift up, and he lacked the strength to get up on his own.

He smiled as he saw her beginning to shake, "I – I don't think I can." Ib just stared at him with her red eyes, despair tearing at her heart. "L – Look Ib..." He coughed, "I – I don't want to lie to you... But I don't w – want to tell you the truth either." He ruefully smiled, "Just go on without me, ok?"

"No!" Ib cried shaking her head furiously, "Come on!" Again she tried to pull him up, but this time Garry didn't even try to get up. She stopped, and gasped for breath, tears brimming the corner of her eyes as she looked at him.

Garry shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I can't..."

Ib's heart froze when she saw his eyes drooping close, "Garry, d – don't... Don't you dare..." She couldn't even bear to say the word, so she instead decided to say, "Don't sleep!" She knelt down beside him, and threw her arms around him, "please!"

Garry chuckled at her substitution word, and glanced over at her, "Ib, I'm sorry." She felt warm tears beginning to go down her face, and she hiccupped, reaching up to wipe her eyes. Garry beat her to it however, lifting his hand and wiping them away. "Don't cry," He said, still smiling, "You can still get out of here..."

"I don't want to leave you..." She whispered quietly, sniffling with an occasional sob now and then.

He let out a pained sigh, shifting a bit to get more comfortable against the wall, "This is it for me."

"I should have done things differently." Ib muttered, her tears still coming. She pressed her head into his chest, trying to stop her crying, but nothing was working. She could still hear his heart beat, so that at least gave her some sort of hope.

"Have you heard of the many worlds theory?" He asked. When the girl shook his head, he elaborated, "I don't know all the techno babble stuff behind it, but it basically Wboils down to the idea that every choice you make creates many different worlds for that choice – one for each possible outcome."

Ib frowned glancing up at him with her tear stained face, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," He closed his eyes, "There are billions and billions and billions of different paths our lives could have taken based on the choices we've made in our life – for instance, I could have not closed my eyes earlier, or I could have, that created two different worlds." He lifted up his arm and pat the girl's head, "Never think that you should have done something differently, there's far too many things to take into account when you think like that."

"But..." She cried, "You're going to die..."

He nodded, "Yes, I am..." He felt the strength in his arm leaving him, so he simply laid it across the girl's back as she hugged him. He felt like he just really wanted to sleep... Yes, a little sleep would be good. He closed his eyes.

"There must be one of those other worlds then where you don't die..." Ib murmured, snapping his eyes back open. He couldn't die now, he had to stay awake long enough for Ib. He couldn't let her see him die.

He frowned, "Don't think like that." Even saying that much was a burden on his. He felt so sore, and sleep seemed like such a nice option.

She nodded her head, still buried in his chest, "I know... You were trying to make me feel better."

He smiled despite his sleepiness, "Don't look back on your previous choices with doubt, it'll drive you mad. There are far too many outcomes that can result from just one choice, and there's a chance that it could become worse as a result of any change you make." He head began to droop lower and lower, and the strength began to leave his hand, making it harder and harder to hold it up and wipe her tears away. He wanted to stay awake for Ib, but it felt like his whole body was shutting down.

Ib grabbed his hand when it began to fall, "Garry? Are you still there?" SHe looked up at him with fearful eyes, and her lips shook as she watched him struggle to stay alive.

His eyes were closed, and it was clear that he was in pain with each breath he took, but he managed to whisper, "I'm here."

"I'm so sorry." Ib sobbed into his shirt. If she hadn't have been so stupid to lose her rose, none of this would have happened. This all could have been avoided, and the two of them could have escaped together.

"Don't apologize." He whispered, "You're still alive, and I know you'll escape... I – I'm glad it's me and not you... I – I doubt I would be...Able to handle... Seeing you... D – d..."

"Do you think I can handle to see it happen to you?!" She screamed at him, "I wish I stopped you! I - I don't wanna see you die! Garry! GARRY!" Garry merely, and she could see him trying to lift his hand to pat her head, but his arm fell to his side, and shortly after, his head drooped down into his chest, and he took one last pained breath.

He was dead.

She closed her eyes to try and keep the tears at bay, but couldn't do it. She hugged him as hard as she could, but there was nothing she could do anymore. She let her emotions out, wailing in the loudest cries she could muster as she held him. It must have been an hour at least, but she finally got up, sniffling as she looked over at the exit of the toy box that she had been pushed into, and walked out. She gave Garry one tearful glance, a small false hope igniting in her, hoping that he would pop up and be alive, but that was not to be. She averted her gaze, and tried to keep her tears from falling any longer. Looking forward instead, she saw the plucked blue rose petals scattered on the ground, and she felt a burning hatred igniting within her.

"Where are you?" She cried, chasing after the blue rose petals, bursting out of the poorly drawn building that she was in, exiting into a large black area with crayon drawings everywhere. She saw the trail of blue rose petals and continued to follow it, which led up to a new staircase that hadn't been present before. Ignoring any precautions, she charged forward, ready to give Mary a piece of her mind. "Mary!" She cried, seeing the girl standing in front of a very large picture.

Mary's head turned towards Ib in surprise, and she smiled, "Ib! You're here!" Ib looked at her, and noticed the destroyed rose stem in her hand. Acting almost purely on instinct at this point, Ib jumped at the girl in rage, knocking them both to the ground. Mary let out a startled gasp, and lost her wind when the two girls slammed down on to the ground. "What are you doing?" Mary screamed.

"You killed him!" Ib shouted, her hands shaking as she pressed Mary's shoulders into the ground and glared daggers at the girl, "How could you?" Her voice cracked at the end, and tears began to fall onto Mary's shocked face.

"B – But..." Mary sputtered, "H – He needed to stay... I wanted to be with you forever..." She reached up and wiped away some of Ib's tears, but the girl quickly jerked her head away so Mary couldn't do it anymore.

"So you killed him?!" Ib cried, "How could you?" Her hands shook with both fury and sadness. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, and she also wanted to hurt Mary for what she did.

Mary frowned still on the ground, her hair splayed all about, "I – I thought you said we were friends..." She averted her eyes from Ib's, unable to look at how emotional Ib was getting.

Ib sniffled, leaning back from Mary now, letting the false girl get back up. As she wiped her eyes, Ib shook her head, "No, you're not my friend anymore."

Mary felt her heart get crushed into a thousand pieces, and she felt tears beginning to well up in her own eyes as her lips trembled, "W – why?! I – I didn't want to do it, but I had to… Otherwise you'd both leave me in here all alone!" She took a few steps toward Ib, "I - I wanted to be with you!" Ib finally stood up, and looked around the room, and finally her eyes came across the painting that Mary had been staring at. Her eyes widened, and she momentarily forgot about Mary as she walked forward and touched it, surprised that her finger went through it. "That's the way out," Mary mumbled from behind.

Ib coldly looked back at her, seeing that the girl was wiping her eyes and keeping her gaze off of Ib. Ib was unfazed by the girl's tears though, and simply asked, "I can get back to the real world through here?" She asked, her voice still void of any emotion.

Mary nodded, "That's right, and I'm coming with you." She wasn't looking at Ib anymore, instead she found the ground to be very interesting, and she was shaking just as badly as Ib was, since she was hurting just as badly emotionally as Ib was.

Ib immediately frowned, "No. You can't." She turned to look at Mary now, seeing that the blonde haired girl had tears running down her face as she shook.

"Yes I can and I will!" Mary exploded, "Garry is staying here! You are not holding me back! I wanted to remember our time in here, so that we could stay friends in the real world, but now..." She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, "I want to forget everything you said! I – I love you, why would you do this to me?!"

"Love?" Ib blinked in surprise, momentarily caught off guard. She was so drained emotionally now that she barely reacted beyond that. She wanted to hurt Mary so badly, but... Something prevented her from doing it, something stopped her from hurting the crying girl in front of her.

Mary nodded, "I love you, and now you want to ruin it all…" Mary reached up and wiped her eyes, her loud sobs echoing in the gallery. Ib took a few steps towards the girl now. What Mary did was unforgivable, but... Seeing her like this was making her heart hurt.

"Mary…" Ib whispered. True, she was absolutely furious with the girl, but the two of them did get along pretty well. It was only when Garry learned the truth that Mary started to act in a way she didn't agree with… If Mary hadn't have killed Garry… If she didn't destroy his rose, perhaps she could at least have seen the other girl's point, but as it stood, she just stood back, not going to comfort the girl. It pained Ib to see her like this, but she got what she deserved. If Ib saying that they weren't friends no more brought this kind of reaction out of her, so be it.

"I'm going no matter what! I – I'll forget all of this! I don't want to remember what you said to me!" Mary cried, looking Ib in the eyes now. Ib could see that her emotions were genuine, and was actually a bit shocked. Mary was seriously this upset that she claimed that they weren't friends? Just what kind of love was Mary referring to anyway? Before Ib could do anything, the girl launched herself through the painting and disappeared on the other side. Ib impassively watched, not even sure what the girl was going on about with remembering or whatever. She took one last glance at the rose that Mary had destroyed, and went through the massive painting.

"Garry..." She mumbled, going through the painting., "Forgive me..."

She opened her eyes, and looked around the place. She suddenly had the strangest feeling that she had been falling, but for the life of her she couldn't recall at all what it was about. She also felt sad, and frowned as she tried to remember why she was so sad. She tried hard, but no matter what she did, the memory would just keep slipping away from her grasp. Letting out a sigh, she went to head to the entrance, especially when she noticed the clock hanging on the wall showing the time as almost a quarter pass seven. She rushed pass every sculpture, painting, and model, but paused at just one. It was a man with purple hair, holding a blue rose, with his eyes closed. He looked to be sleeping, and she read the name of the painting, 'The Hanged Man'. Again, an immense feeling of sadness passed through her – did she know him? She shook her head again, and went to leave once more, glancing back several times as she left, trying to discern why she felt so weird around the painting.

"There you are!"

Ib looked up and smiled when she saw her adopted sister running towards her. The girl had beautiful blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, not to mention that her smile was so genuinely happy that Ib felt special knowing that it was directed at her. She wore a green dress, and nearly collided with Ib as she wrapped her arms around the girl. "Hello." Ib replied warmly, hugging her sister

"Where were you?" Mary asked, returning the hug, holding on a few seconds longer, even after Ib had let go. Finally Mary let go, and she looked curiously at Ib.

Ib frowned as something seemed vaguely familiar... What was it? She didn't know, so she finally just shrugged and replied, "I don't know."

"What?" Mary asked, tilting her head cutely.

"Did you... Come out of a daze, or something?" Ib asked, knowing that she probably sounded particularly odd. She was surprised when Mary actually looked a bit thoughtful, and crossed her arms, one of her hands reaching up and tapping her chin.

"Now that you mention it," Mary mumbled, now rubbing her chin, "Yeah, I did."

"What was that about?" Ib asked, leaned forward a bit, eager to see what her sister had to say about this.

Mary shrugged, "I dunno, I was just lookin at the paintings, and suddenly I felt dizzy."

Ib nodded enthusiastically, "Same thing happened to me! What happened?"

"Do you think there's poison in the air?" Mary asked, giving Ib a wide eyed stare. Ib couldn't help but giggle at her sister's mind trying to work out an explanation, and she reached into her pocket to pull out her handkerchief, but paused when she felt something else in her pocket. She pulled out a piece of candy, wrapped in a yellow wrapper.

"What's that? Is that candy?" Mary asked both questions rapidly, and then followed it up with, "Where'd you get it?"

"I don't know," Ib mumbled, frowning as she felt a vague memory tugging at her mind. She held the candy up to her face, and looked at the wrapped, feeling the memory in her head - it was so far and distant, and every time she tried to recall it, it would suddenly fade away. It was annoying, and she finally let out an unsatisfied groan, and shook her head as she dropped it back to her side.

"Can I have it?" Mary asked, smiling sweetly towards Ib. It was clear to Ib that she was just going to eat it.

Ib closed her hand around the candy and shook her head, "No. It's mine." She didn't know how, but she just knew that somehow, it was hers... Someone gave it to her... Maybe someone in the gallery. She didn't focus on that, and instead just put it in her pocket.

"Aw..." Mary pouted, and she crossed her arms, "You're so mean!"

Ib smiled and flicked her older sister's forehead, "Go get your own then."

"I will!" Mary said with determination, balling up her fists and looking towards Ib, "But first we've gotta leave!" Ib nodded, and she patted her pocket to make sure the candy was still there as Mary dragged her over to her mom and dad. The two looked relieved to see Ib, and they walked over as the children entered the main lobby of the gallery.

"Are you ready to go kiddo?" Her dad asked, kneeling down in front of her and messing with her hair. Ib frowned immediately when he started to do it, though she did allow him to do it for a few more seconds before she put a stop to it.

"Stop that," Ib grumbled, moving the offending hand away. She rolled her eyes as she saw her dad curl up his lips like a child, and avert his eyes away. It was ridiculous to see a grown man acting like that, even if it was her father, who in their right mind would fall for such an act?

"Aw," He faked his feelings being hurt, "My daughter doesn't love me anymore!" He brought his hands up to his eyes and began to wipe them, and Mary immediately ran over to him.

Mary hugged her father and told him, "I love you!" Of course Mary would fall for it. Ib rolled her eyes at the pointed look that Mary gave her, but complied and gave her father a hug. The man wrapped his hands around both of his daughters and hugged them, chuckling the entire time.

As the family began to leave, Ib took one last look behind her at the museum – she felt like she still had something to do, but she couldn't figure it out. She finally let out a disgruntled sigh, if it were important, then surely it will come back to her later. With that thought in mind, she turned around and followed her family out of the museum.

XxXxXxX

It had been several months since they had last visited the museum, and since then, Ib had been feeling very troubled, though she couldn't point out exactly why she felt that way. She knew it at least had something to do with the candy, but she couldn't really identity what it had to do with that, or why the candy made her feel so troubled. It was annoying, not being able to determine what her problem was, since she was someone who was so used to hitting her problems head on – how could she do that if she didn't even know what it was in the first place?

She was currently lying down on her bed wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts, her hair sprawled out along the sheets. She held the candy above her with one hand, her room light illuminating the yellow-wrapped candy like a star. After a few moments of that, she finally let out a disgusted sigh, and leaned up and turned to the side towards her nightstand, where she opened a small drawer and put the candy in, deciding it wasn't worth the headache she usually got whenever she looked at it for too long.

"Ib?" She heard knocking on her door, and saw a shadow below it.

"What is it?" She called out, knowing that it was her sister behind her door. The girl visited constantly, not that Ib minded much. The two of them got along really well, almost too well, some people would say.

"Can I come in?"

Ib didn't particularly care, "Sure." The door opened, and Mary walked in. The blonde hair girl was dressed in her favorite green dress, despite the fact that they weren't going out anywhere that day. Ib honestly had no idea why the girl liked that dress or the color green so much, but she guess it didn't matter – she was quite fond of the color red in the same way.

Mary opened the door, and smiled widely as she saw her sister laid out on the bed, so she rushed over and jumped on her sister's bed right at her side and let out a loud, "Hey, how you doing!" She giggled as she caused Ib and her to bounce a bit from how forceful she hit the bed. She then laid down right beside Ib, closing her eyes as she rubbed her head into her sister's pillows.

"I'm good, what do you need?" Ib asked, in a bored tone, though she was thankful Mary had come in. She was bored out of her skull, and looking at the candy could only be entertaining for so long.

"I'm bored, let's play!" Mary exclaimed, turning her head over to look at Ib now. Ib couldn't help but smile when she saw how happy, and she guess she'd use the word 'cute' in this instance, since Mary was giving her such a wide eyed and excited stare.

Ib chuckled and sat up, using her arms to support her from behind, "Do you want to play a board game?"

"Yeah!" Mary cheered as she pumped both fists in the air above her, "I'll be sure to beat you this time!" She got up and rushed over to Ib's closet to search for a board game to play.

"Sure you will," Ib couldn't help but smile at her sister's antics. She was always so excitable, and it was honestly a lot of fun to be around. That was what made it so confusing for her, when she felt two very different and conflicting emotions about her. On one hand, she loved her sister. She had known her for about a year now, and she had become very close with her. They did practically everything together – they ate together, bathed together, played together… They both had their own rooms, but more often than not, Mary would sneak into Ib's room and would sleep in her bed. It wasn't as if Ib minded that much at all, though she supposed it was odd that Mary was the older sister by four months, when she acted so much like a younger sister.

On the other hand, for some reason she felt as though Mary was… unsettling, she supposed. It as if she was hiding something so horrible and dark that she refused to reveal it to her. She had no idea where these dark thoughts originated from, but she knew they started to occur the day she visited the museum, and they never really left, though they had reduced in intensity over time. She never confronted her adopted sister about this however, since she refused to try and distress Mary needlessly, since the girl would undoubtedly take it the wrong way and think she hated her.

"Can we play this?" Mary asked, pulling out 'connect four' from Ib's very neat and tidy closet. She rushed to the center of the floor, and began to set the game up without Ib's input on whether she wanted to play it or not.

Ib smiled – there was no way her sister could be evil, not when she acted so innocent and cute like this. She watched the girl give her an adorable smile, and she shook the dark thoughts away for now, and spoke up, "That's fine." She sat up and went over to sit down beside Mary.

Mary giggled as she separated the red and black circles, in the box, and Ib felt another much more uncomfortable thought begin to hit her. She had been having odd feelings about her sister for a while now, and she knew they were wrong. She loved her sister, but found herself realizing slowly each day that it was a deeper love – one that she definitely shouldn't be having about her sister. She was only nine too! She heard that she was mature for her age, but wasn't that a bit ridiculous? She let the uncomfortable thoughts pass, and again focused on the game, realizing that Mary had made the first move. She made sure to drop her piece down next to Mary's, and then stacked her next one on top of her other piece. The game moved in such a fashion, with Ib slowly getting absorbed into the game, and forgetting about her troubling thoughts. Soon, the first match ended in her victory.

"You're too good at these games!" Mary cried across from her sister, "I want a rematch!"

Ib rolled her eyes, "I'll still beat you." She replied with a teasing smile on her face. Mary seemed to catch on that Ib wasn't seriously when she said that, because Mary's face also split into a grin.

"We'll see about that!" Mary smiled widely. Ib reached down to the bottom of the board to move the plastic aside to release all of the piece, and her hand brushed against Mary's who had gone to do the same thing. Her face suddenly heated up, and she pulled her hand back quickly as if she had been shocked with electricity. What was wrong with her? Usually she could touch Mary and just be fine! Was it because of her earlier thoughts? "What's wrong with you?" Mary giggled, "Scared?"

Ib looked up, and realized that Mary had also turned a bit red, and Ib abruptly stood up, "I – I'm going to the bathroom really quick!"

"Aw, ok." Mary sighed, though Ib could see a bit of relief and... perhaps disappointment in her sister's eyes? She couldn't tell, and she just found herself nodding as Mary replied with, "I'll wait here!" Ib rushed to the bathroom, and quickly closed the door, letting out a sigh as she did so, and she slid down the door, allowing her beating heart to rest. If this is what she had to look forward to every time she saw Mary, this was going to be quite an issue. No. It wouldn't happen every time. She's a girl too! There was no way she could like her in that kind of way!

"She's my sister, my sister…" She mumbled. Though she isn't related by blood… "Stop it, mind!" She grumbled to herself, feeling her face heating up even more.

About five minutes later, she managed to calm down, and determined that she would be fine around Mary for now. As long as she kept the fact that they were siblings in her mind, and the fact that they were both girls, she could get through this. Letting out one last deep sigh, she got up and examined herself in the mirror, and then she opened the door, going back to her room.

XxXxXxX

The next two and a half years passed as a blur to Ib, and while she occasionally had trouble controlling her emotions around Mary, nothing too serious ever came from it, for which she was very thankful. Instead, she slowly started focusing more and more on art, and she enjoyed painting in particular. Her parents and Mary were all very supportive of her goals, and encouraged her every time they saw her start to draw or paint. Mary even would sit by and watch her doing it occasionally, staying very quiet as Ib concentrated on her artwork. When she confronted Mary about it one day, the girl had shrugged, and admitted that she really liked watching her draw, and she found it very calming.

Mary wasn't as into arts as Ib was, and over the last few years, she had instead began to focus more on her school work than anything, and even got ahead on quite a few subjects. Also unlike Ib, it was clear that Mary was definitely growing to be much more feminine – she enjoyed shopping a lot more than Ib did, and loved it when their mother took them out. She loved clothes, make-up, and all those things that Ib really didn't care about. One thing that stayed the same however, was their relationship to one another. They both loved each other dearly, and always supported one another, even if their decisions weren't ones that they'd have picked themselves. They also tended to do most things together, even if it didn't fit the others interest.

It was now early May, and the two were now twelve years old and starting their first year in middle school together. The first couple of weeks of classes were a bore, as Mary said they would be, but Ib didn't really mind. She spent most of her time in class drawing doodles in the margins of her papers, or texting Mary with her phone hidden from view. There were several times when she had to bite her hand to stop herself from laughing at the texts she received, causing her to get some annoyed glances from the people around her, but at least their professor never caught on.

Their school unfortunately had a uniform that everyone was required to wear. All the girls had to wear a black jacket, and a white blouse underneath it, and a skirt that reached to their knee, fortunately during the summer they were allowed to forego the jacket, but it was still a bit warm that summer day. The boys on the other hand had to wear a black jacket, a white button up shirt, and black pants, and like the girls, they could get rid of the jacket during the summer months. There was talk of the dress code being removed soon, but unfortunately that was still years away, and it would be well after they graduated middle school.

As classes were let out for lunch that day, Mary and Ib met up in the halls, and walked towards the cafeteria, and along the way, the entire left wall was practically covered with flyers advertising dozens upon dozens of clubs, and in addition to that, there were some third year students standing around explaining their clubs and handing out flyers to interested students. "Mary," Ib groaned as the two walked close to one another, "Please, try not to make me laugh in class."

"It's funny," Mary giggled, "I sit behind you and I saw you actually bite your hand!" She started to laugh, "I can't believe you did that! I actually had to stop myself from laughing at _you_!"

"I'm glad I could be of some entertainment to you," Ib commented dryly, "But please, don't do that to me again. I think the professor was starting to get really mad."

"Aw, who cares what that old hag thinks?" Mary shrugged, "Plus, once she actually starts handing out more than one assignment a week for us to do and we start acing them, there's really nothing she should worry about."

"It astounds me even now that you've managed to become such a good student." Ib admitted, grinning when she saw Mary give her an annoyed glance. That was payback for laughing about her biting her hand, as far as Ib was concerned.

"I'm just amazing, that's all." Mary shrugged, returning her gaze back forward, "Maybe if you stopped doodling on your homework and actually did the assignments, you'd be doing just as well!" She replied with a small smile.

"It's not my fault that it's so boring," Ib groaned, shaking her head in dismay, "Seriously, that last math assignment we got was basically doing the same thing thirty different times. It was so boring!"

"It's important that you know how to do it you know." Mary chided her sister, acting like the older sibling for once, "Repetition makes it easy to remember."

"Yeah, yeah." Ib waved off, not really interested, and she looked out the windows to the right at the bright sunny day, "I wish I could just go outside and draw in the sun, that'd be nice." She stopped by the window, and let out a small sigh. Sometimes the inside of the school felt like a prison, especially on days like this.

"Draw, huh?" Mary mumbled, her eyes looked outside, and then she quickly turned around, and began to scan the wall, "Hey, Ib, look!"

Ib frowned as Mary grabbed her hand and dragged her across the hall to the opposite side of the windows, getting in the way of several students who were walking behind them, and she forced Ib to look up at a flyer, "What is it, Mary?"

"It's an art club! You love drawing so much, why not join a club dedicated to it?" Mary exclaimed, looking like she was far too excited, "It'll be fun! Come on, I'll join too, and we can both draw!" Her eyes were shining in pure excitement as she looked to Ib.

"You don't like drawing though," Ib couldn't help but point out, looking to Mary in confusion.

Mary brought up both her hands and waved it off, "Oh come on, and I don't _hate_ it. It's not that hard, right? You just get a pencil and draw a few lines here and there, right? Nothing to it!" She motioned in the air the lines she would draw with a pencil, getting a few odd looks. Mary didn't care one bit though, and soon the people walked away.

"It's a bit more than that," Ib couldn't help but giggle, trying to imagine Mary sitting down for more than five seconds and drawing was very hard to imagine.

"Aw come on, let's do it!" Mary practically begged, giving Ib her best puppy-dog like look. Ib looked away, her heart suddenly beating hard against her chest at the look.

"I guess." Ib mumbled, trying to calm down, "Room 212 in the club room building after school at four." She let out a few more deep breaths,a nd felt more in control now.

"Cool!" Mary gushed, "I haven't been in that building yet!"

"I'm surprised that this school has more than one building on their campus." Ib couldn't help but say, "It just seems wasteful." She looked over to Mary, and she could see that Mary was going into 'professor' mode, like she usually did whenever they did assignments together.

"Well, we ARE on the outskirts of a city, and there's like, what, five thousand students here? They probably need as much room as they can possibly get!" Mary explained, her eyes turning over to Ib and shining brightly, "So, you'll do it?"

"Yeah, I'll see what the club is all about, and decide if I'll join it or not." Ib shrugged. Honestly, she really liked the idea, and had no objections. Mary cheered, and embraced Ib, who was not expecting it. When she was prepared for her sisters occasional hugs, she was fine, but when Mary did it so out of blue and she had no time to prepare for them, Ib would get very flustered, and this wasn't an exception. Her face turned bright red, and she began to recite her mantra in her head: She's my sister. She's my sister. She's my sister.

Soon, she let go, and Ib couldn't but let out a sigh of relief at that, and she smiled at Mary, her face still a bit red, "That came out of nowhere."

"I'm just really happy!" Mary claimed, though Ib could have sworn that her sister's face was also a bit red, "Now come on, let's go get something to eat!"

Since the school contained so many students, there were three different lunch periods, one for each grade level. Unfortunately for them, that meant that they were served in the last period, and each consecutive year in the school they'd be able to eat earlier and earlier. The cafeteria was still jam packed, despite only a third of the student body being there, and Ib had to admit that she honestly didn't look forward to this every school day. After lunch, she and her sister went back to their classes. For Ib they passed by relatively fast, since her mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of this art club that Mary had pointed out to her, and she had to admit, she was at least a little bit interested, and so it was a great relief when the professor excused them all, allowing them to do whatever they wanted.

"Ready to go?" Mary asked, rushing over to Ib's desk from her own, throwing her backpack on her back and grinning at Ib like a mad woman.

"Yeah," Ib nodded, not really wanting to let Mary see how eager she really was to get going. She simply put some of her books away in the desk, and then put what she needed in a backpack to take home later. She shifted it onto her back, and followed Mary out of the classroom. The two walked down the hall again, and walked towards the door leading outside. The campus was pretty big, for simply being a middle school. As soon as they walked out, if they headed straight, they would reach the front gate of the school, but if they took a right immediately upon exiting, they would be able to take a path that led to another large building. The path was lined with all sorts of trees and flowers, but both girls were focused on the building ahead of them.

The giant building wasn't the greatest looking place, but it would get the job done. It was large and rectangular, with windows evenly spaced out all over. They went up to the front door, and pulled it open, walking inside. Upon entering, immediately to the left was a desk with a student worker sitting, chatting with a few people. If they wanted, they could ask them for directions or basic information, but there were already several talking, and even more waiting to speak, so the two opted not to bother. In front of them was a very long hallway bustling with students, with doors on either side standing wide open, many with signs accepting new members.

"We have to go upstairs right?" Mary asked, clutching her sister's school uniform sleeve so they wouldn't get separated. It was unnecessary, but they used to to it whenever their parents would take them to the city, so it simply became a bit of a habit.

"Yeah," Ib nodded, trying to remember the room number, "Room 212, right?"

"That's it," Mary nodded, pointing to some stairs on the opposite side of the lobby they were in, "Let's go!" And so they took that path of the stairs, and eventually found themselves at the door leading into room 212. Inside, they could see a bunch of students gathered around, listening to an introduction speech by one of the third year students. Ib frowned, it seemed that they were a bit late. The room was very large with a wood floor, and it had a closet in the back where Ib assumed they stored art supplies. There were windows allowing sunlight to beam in, and there were all sorts of strange creations shoved off to the sides of the room, covering with paint, charcoal or other such things.

"Aw crap!" They heard a girl cry behind them, and they turned around. The girl was obviously wearing the same outfit they were, but she had shoulder length black hair and brown eyes, and she had a gigantic smile on her face, as she looked inside the class, "Seems we're a bit late, eh?"

"Yeah," Mary grumbled as she crossed her arms in annoyance, "I hate coming in half way through a lecture! It makes me feel so awkward."

"Me too!" The girl exclaimed, and then she blinked a few times owlishly, before bowing down, "Ah, sorry, I guess it's customary to introduce yourself to new people! My name is Aiko! It's nice to meet you two!"

"I think we've found someone as weird as you," Ib muttered into Mary's ear.

Mary either completely ignored Ib, or didn't hear her, because she matched Aiko's smile and bowed down, "My name is Mary, and this here is my sister, Ib!"

"Sister?" Aiko questioned as she looked back and forth between them, "You two look nothing alike!"

Ib shrugged, knowing that it was uncomfortable for Mary to tell people that she was adopted, "Yeah, we're just weird like that."

Realizing that she may have over stepped her bounds, Aiko bowed down again, "Ah, I'm sorry for saying that!"

"Don't worry about it," Mary casually waved it off, and gave Aiko a pat on the shoulder, "Are you ready to go in?"

"Crap," A boy ran up and noticed that the introductions were also underway, "I couldn't find this stupid place, and now they're already talking…" He was clearly out of breath, and his hands were on his knees as he gasped for air. Like Aiko, his hair was black, and also like Aiko he had brown eyes. He finally was able to ask through his deep breathing, "What'd I miss?"

"I don't know," Ib admitted, "We still haven't gone in." She was feeling a bit antsy just standing there, and Mary fortunately caught on to her sister's desire.

"Yeah," Mary exclaimed, "We really should go now!" Not waiting another second, Mary dragged Ib in, with Aiko and the boy following behind. As they sat and listened to the introduction, another few students poured in, and it was clear that this must have been quite a popular club, since there was already almost three dozen students in the room. Ib stayed next to Mary the entire time, and Aiko seemed to have attached to them rather quickly, as did the boy, who was looking uncomfortably around.

The introduction lasted another twenty minutes, with the presenter switching between different artworks that the club has displayed, and they also explained how they had an art fair during the cultural festival, and other such things. Mary was clearly getting bored out of her mind, and halfway through the lecture, she had pulled out her cellphone and was lazily typing messages to Ib, who was trying to pay attention to the lecture. After a while, Mary and Aiko had exchanged phone numbers, and the two began to text, much to Ib's relief.

"Well, that was interesting," The boy said, after the lecture was complete. He looked over to the three girls, "What'd you think?"

"Are you kidding me?" Aiko grumbled, "I was bored outta my skull. You'd think they would limit it to like five minutes or something. I didn't think anyone could talk about art for so long!" Ib wanted to make a smart remark, but she held her tongue. She didn't really know the girl well enough to lash out at her, and she didn't want to be rude or hurt the girl's feelings.

"She said to get into groups of five and they'd assign a 'mentor' to each group," Ib recounted the instructions, "We need one more."

"How about her?" The boy pointed to a girl who was huddled in on herself, and she seemed to be very nervous. It was clear that she was foreign, or at least part foreign, since her hair was blonde like Mary's, but unlike Mary however, the girl's eyes were green, and she looked to be very young, and her hair was tied up into a ponytail.

"Hey!" Mary walked over to the girl tactlessly, "You want to join our group?"

The girl let out a startled cry, and looked fearfully at the girl, "Um, Um…"

"She sure is shy," Aiko couldn't help but smile as she walked over to the girl beside Mary, "She's so cute!"

"What's your name?" Ib asked kindly, trying to coax the girl out of her shell as she and the boy walked over too. She could see that the foreign girl seemed to be a bit at ease when Ib and Junichi walked over, and she turned to them to introduce herself.

"M – My name is Rin…" the foreign girl mumbled. Bowing down to Ib and Junichi.

"My name's Junichi," The boy introduced himself, bowing politely to the girl and giving her a friendly smile, "Would you like to join our team?"

The little girl looked at him, and her face flushed red, "O – Ok…" She nodded a bit quickly, and then seemed to huddle in on herself again.

"You seem a bit young," Ib pointed out, since the girl did in fact look younger than all of them.

"I don't go to school here…I'm in a head start program…" She mumbled quietly, averting her eyes as if she was expecting them to hate her for that.

"Wait, so you're not even in middle school yet and you're in this club?" Aiko asked, her eyes widening. The girl nodded, and that explained why she was so nervous. She didn't fit in due to her hair, and due to the fact that she wasn't wearing a uniform. She was simply dressed in a light blue blouse and a skirt, and she wore sandals. She must have thought the club was more casual, and was sorely mistaken. It also didn't help that most the students were simply ignoring her. Ib frowned at that thought, and couldn't help but think negatively of the many students in the room for doing so.

With their team established, Rin made sure to stay very close to Junichi, and the five of them made their way over near the window. There was a little small talk, mostly consisting of introductions, and finally an older student walked up to them. The girl wore particularly large glasses, had light violet hair, and sky blue eyes, like most of the girls in the group she wore the school uniform, and she had on an almost emotionless face as she looked at them all.

"Hello." She impassively spoke as she gazed at all of them one by one. It was clear that she was unnerving a few of them, but no one went to speak, so Ib had to be the one to try and break the ice with the girl.

"Hello?" Ib muttered, starting a small chorus of awkward 'hellos' to follow shortly after.

"I'll be your mentor," She bowed down to them, "I'm a second year student, and my name is Yuki. It's a pleasure to meet you all." She looked around at them all again to make sure their attention was focused on her, "You'll all follow my guidelines of what to do. We'll start with the basics and work our way up from there, any questions?" No one raised their hand to question anything, which seemed to cause Yuki to faintly smile, "Good. Then let's begin. Please follow me."

And with that, their first day of club began, and Ib and Mary made their first real friends. Yuki had led them to get some art supplies, and then took them outside and did exactly what Ib had said she wanted to do earlier that day, they simply basked in the sun and started to draw. Of course, Aiko and Mary slacked off a bit, but it couldn't be helped. Ib was willing to forgive her sister just this once, since she actually had a great time. Even Rin started to relax a bit and smile once they were out of the room.

Ib honestly looked forward to the next meeting.

XxXxXxX

A month had passed since Ib had opted to join the art club, and like Mary has suspected, she really enjoyed it. She now had a stand in her room where she'd paint with water colors, and she had multiple notebooks already filled to the brim with new idea of things to draw, and of her attempting to draw even better than before. It seemed that she had found her passion in life, and she pursued it with everything she could possibly throw at it. She was in the middle of painting on her canvas when there was a knock on her door, not knowing that the encounter would change the rest of her life.

"Come in, Mary." She called, already knowing that it was her sister. She never let her eyes off her canvas, and she continued to paint even as she heard the door opening.

"Hey," Mary waved, and she walked into her sister's room. She closed the door behind her, and smiled when she saw Ib painting, "Do you mind if I watch you?"

"I don't mind," Ib shrugged. Mary was always a quiet observer and hardly a distraction at all, in fact, she'd actually kind of admit to liking it. Mary smiled and walked over to her bed, setting herself down so she could see the painting, with Ib's back to her. Ib was wearing a white shirt with smears of paint scattered all across it, and she wore shorts, with a few pens and pencils sticking out from the pockets. Her hair was neatly tied back into the ponytail, so it wouldn't get in her way. Mary leaned forward and placed her chin in her hands, while her elbows rested on her knees as she watched Ib. Ib paid her little mind as she began to paint again, getting absorbed in her own little world once more.

"A green dress?" Mary quipped after a few minutes of silence, "Are you drawing me?" Ib blinked a few times, and glanced back at Mary, and realized that the girl was in fact wearing a green dress. Seriously, what was her obsession with the color green, and why did she wear her dresses so often? She then looked down at her painting and frowned – she was just allowing her mind to paint whatever it wanted, but she realized that she was drawing a green dress on it. Why did Mary have to say something? Now this was going to be awkward.

"I didn't notice," Ib admitted honestly, feeling her cheeks turn a little bit red, "Are you mad?"

"No, not at all." Mary answered, with a happy smile, "It makes me happy."

"Well... That's good," Ib sighed, and went back to painting. However, she wasn't able to escape to her little world now that Mary had brought up what she was drawing. She frowned as she dipped her brushed in the cup of water nearby, cleaning it of green, and she thought of what to put on next. Her mind instantly told her to draw the rest of Mary of course. However, she was right behind her… Oh crap, her heart was starting to beat fast now, and she felt her face beginning to flush, knowing that Mary was right behind her. Oh no, not now... She's my sister, she's my sister, she's my sister… She repeated over and over in her mind.

"Ib?" Mary spoke up, causing said girl to jump, "You haven't moved, are you all right?" She gave her sister a concerned look.

"I'm fine." Ib lied her voice reaching a higher pitch than intended, and she turning back to her canvas, trying to calm down. Her fists were balled up in front of her chest, and she had her head down to try and get rid of the blush.

"Ib?" Mary again spoke up.

"What?" Ib asked, still not turning around. Mary reached up and touched her exposed arm, and Ib nearly gasped as she felt as if there was a shock from the mere touch. She started to blush more and more, and her heart continued to beat against her chest, letting her know loud and clear that she needed to get out of there now!

"I – I need to go!" Ib suddenly stated, quickly tugging at her arm and releasing the touch that Mary had on her, "I – I – I uh…" She took a step towards the door to the room, and averted her eyes from Mary as the older girl stood up now.

"Are you nervous?" Mary asked very quietly, almost a whisper. If Ib didn't know any better, she'd say that Mary was trying to provoke a reaction like this, but surely Mary wouldn't try to do something like that!

"W- Why would I be nervous?" Ib asked, again wishing that she would stop blushing. She tried to keep her face hidden from her sister's view, but knew that it wasn't working, since Mary took a step closer to her. This wasn't good!

"I don't know, why would you be?" Mary repeated the question back at Ib, taking yet another step towards her.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ib exclaimed, "I have nothing to be nervous about!" She still kept her face away from Mary.

"Oh really?" Mary asked quietly. Ib noticed from the corner of her eye that Mary's face was turning the same shade of red as her own, and her heart gave a very loud thump against her chest, so much so that it felt like it hurt her. She let out a gasp of air, and averted her eyes away from Mary, "I should go."

"Wait." Mary reached up and again grabbed Ib's arm, causing the girl to shudder at the mere touch, and let out an embarrassing gasp. She looked back at Mary, "Don't go."

"What do you want?" Ib asked, feeling her body begin to shake. She felt both horror and excitement as her sister seemed almost as embarrassed as she did, and she saw Mary seem to contemplate something.

"I was wondering," If possible, Mary's face grew even brighter red, even more than her own, "Do you want to… Kiss?"

"What?" Ib asked, her mind nearly shutting down at the question. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss… She didn't really say that, did she? Ib didn't bother to make a move for the door anymore, since she was far too shocked, and she felt her mouth dropping open at Mary's question.

"Let's kiss." Mary repeated, giving Ib a nervous smile. Only now, since her hormones were running out of control, that nervous smile looked so... beautiful. Ib looked away wide eyed - did she really just think that?

"B – But we can't." Ib shook her head, "We're sisters!" She tried to shake Mary's hand off of her arm, but the girl held on with a much tighter grip this time.

"Not by blood," Mary whispered, standing up and grabbing hold of both of Ib's hands, intertwining her fingers with hers, "I'm adopted, remember?" Their faces looked right into one another now, and Ib shook as she looked away. Of course she remembered. She remembered practically every time she was hugged by her, or was even touched. She just consciously tried NOT to think about it.

"W – We're both girls…" Ib muttered as Mary's face came closer to her own. She could feel Mary's breath against her face. She was fighting the instinct to just go with it now – every fiber of her being was telling her to do it, and her hormones were screaming at her to do it, resisting was almost too much now...

"It's an experiment." Mary mumbled, leaning in to close the final distance. An experiment… Yes. Ok, it's an experiment. Nothing more than that. Ib couldn't deny that she was very curious to know what it was like to kiss someone, so as long as this was an experiment, and nothing more intimate than that, it should be fine. Right. She wasn't making an excuses, it was purely to sate her curiosity. With that, Ib leaned forward as well, finally pleasing her body and mind's desire.

Their lips touched, and it was awkward, very awkward. Neither of them having any experience with how to kiss properly, other than puckering up their lips and kissing their mom and dad good night. Their lips smacked quite loudly against one another, and after a few seconds they parted, though Mary looked particularly unsatisfied, a slight frown crossing her face. Ib was shaking, but she felt a huge thrill from that, so she couldn't help but say, "H – How about we try again?" She surprised even herself with her boldness.

Mary was apparently just as surprised, but she nodded, her face still flushed, but she was smiling at the same time, and her eyes shined. Again, Ib found herself thinking about how beautiful she looked, and she leaned forward, and this time Ib relaxed. She tried not to be so tense, and naturally leaned in to kiss, their lips touching each other softer this time, neither of them puckering their lips. This… This felt much better. Ib found herself reaching her hand up to caress the side of Mary's face, and Mary reached her hand up to touch Ib's face, sending another bolt of what felt like electricity going through their bodies with the feeling of the touch. This feeling was incredible, and they both leaned into the kiss more and more.

Ib continued to kiss Mary, and she found her mind beginning to go blank, getting deeper and deeper into a haze. Her eyes began to close as she just enjoyed the closeness of her sister, leaning her body forward and into Mary's, molding her form onto Mary's body. From the looks of it, Mary seemed to falling down the same path as she was – her mind was going into a pleasant haze, and she too was pressing her body against Ib. They didn't even react when Mary fell backwards onto Ib's bed, instead their focus was solely on the feelings they were going through. Ib continued to kiss Mary as passionately as she could from atop Mary, and Mary started to allow her hands to rub Ib's back, causing that pleasurable bolt to travel all up and down her body.

Ib couldn't understand what this feeling was. Why was her chest feeling so tight? Why did this feel so good? Why did she feel like she needed this – why did she even want this? Mary was her sister! But… But it felt so good, and it felt right. She couldn't explain it, but perhaps… Is this what love felt like?

They parted, finally needing to breathe. Both of them gasped for air, and looking deeply into each other's eyes, unsure of what exactly to make of this. They just continued to gasp as they looked into each others face, and there was even a small trail of saliva between their mouths as they gasped, their red faces not even noticing. Instead, their eyes were locked into each other's, and they couldn't look away, even if they wanted to.

"That was amazing..." Ib gasped out, not caring that she was pressing her body so tightly to Mary, or for the fact that Mary was holding her so she couldn't move.

"I heard the first kiss is always the best." Mary nodded, and then she smiled and whispered, "Do you want to do it again…?" Ib let out a few breaths, and just nodded, her mind was still in a pleasurable haze. She leaned forward, ready to kiss Mary again…

… And was immediately brought out of the moment when there was a loud knocking on her door. Her eyes opened wide, and she looked down at Mary, and what she had just done crossed her mind, the haze that had clouded her mind was gone, and she jumped back to her feet, and opened and closed her mouth, "Uh, um…"

Mary meanwhile sat up and shook her head, getting out of the daze she was in, and looking towards the door her face was still very red, "Who is it?" She called out, looking mildly annoyed.

"Mary! Tell Ib to stop painting for now! It's dinner time!" Their mother called through the door, and she walked away, both girls hearing her footsteps going further and further from the door.

The two girl's gaze fell back on one another, and Ib finally spoke up, "So… That happened…"

"Yeah," Mary reached up and touched her lips, and tenderly pressed her fingers against them, "It did."

Another long and awkward pause, and Ib coughed into her hand, averting her eyes as she spoke, "Let's go get dinner."

Mary stood up from the bed, "That sounds like a good idea." As Mary walked pass her, Ib quickly reached out and grabbed the girl's hand, another bolt of whatever that feeling was passed through them, but Ib kept her grip, and blushed brightly. "Ib?" Mary asked, tilting her head questioningly.

"Let's… Let's do that again." Ib managed to get out, looking down at the floor, her face was burning from embarrassment, but she was glad that she managed to ask even that. "Let's do it again later."

"You want to do it some more?" Mary asked her heart racing from the unbelievable request she was hearing from Ib.

"I want to do it again." Ib confirmed, glancing up at Mary.

Mary grinned and leaned forward to kiss Ib on the forehead, "Of course. I'd love to do it again." Ib let go of Mary's hand, and let her go downstairs to eat dinner, and Ib was left blushing as she thought about what she said. She knew what was really going on, and she felt both thrilled and absolutely disgusted with herself for it. She touched her forehead where Mary had kissed her, and one thought crossed her mind...

She might just love her own sister.

XxXxXxX

CHAPTER 1 REVISED: 6/27/2013 - Added in a lot more detail, and combined a lot of sentences. This chapter had 2.7k additional words added to it.


	2. Stunning Realization

Stunning Realization

Their experiments soon became almost a daily occurrence soon after they started. Mary would go into Ib's room, and they'd make sure to lock the door, not wanting their parents to accidentally walk in on them while they were 'experimenting'. Sometimes they'd get so into it that the passage of time would be a blur, and they would realize they didn't do their homework or something else equally as important. Still, both girls enjoyed it quite a bit, even if they were embarrassed to admit it.

About a year and a half had passed since then, and it was in the middle of December. Mary was currently fourteen, her birthday being on the twenty-third of October, and Ib was currently thirteen, since her birthday was in February.

Since then they had begun to incorporate more and more into their kissing techniques, eventually culminating in the usage of their tongues, which Ib (to her embarrassment) found to be particularly enjoyable. Like before, each and every time they did it, Ib's mind would go blank and her mind would get very hazy – she was actually beginning to worry if she was beginning to get addicted to the pleasurable feeling, she might have to ask Mary about that to see if it was anything to be worried about…

Ib glanced over at her nightstand and saw that it was a little pass seven, and she let out a moan as Mary continued to kiss along her chin and the side of her mouth, "Mary," She mumbled, "We need to stop now… Homework needs to get done." The two of them were currently on Ib's bed, with Ib laying down and Mary was leaning down, her legs straddling Ib as she continued to kiss her younger sister passionately.

"Do we have to?" Mary asked huskily, from her position atop Ib. She had both of Ib's arms pinned down, and her younger sister was doing nothing to resist it at all.

"Maybe we can go for another five minutes…" Ib mumbled, facing forward again and kissing Mary on the lips. They had gotten much better at this over the year, and they learned to breathe while kissing, so they didn't need to part as often. Mary then gently slid her tongue into Ib's mouth, causing the younger girl to moan as she did the same – they tasted each other's mouth, rubbing their tongues against each other's teeth and such.

They finally parted, Mary grinning down at Ib's completely flushed face, and she finally got off of her sister. She quickly rubbed her green shirt, since it had wrinkled a bit from their activities. In addition to the shirt, she was wearing jeans. She quickly shook her head, trying to make her hair look like less of a mess, since Ib had been running her hands through it earlier.

"I don't feel like getting up…" Ib mumbled, looking far too comfortable on the bed. Her hair was disheveled, sticking all over the place, and her paint-stained white shirt was fairing little better, being very wrinkled as well. Unlike Mary, she was wear a skirt and some rather long socks that reached up to her knee, since she claimed earlier that her feet were cold.

"You were the one who told me we had to stop." Mary pointed out.

"I know…" Ib moaned, rolling onto her side.

"I need to go change really fast first," Mary admitted, with a blush on her face, "We – ah – got a bit too into it today."

Ib blushed too, despite the fact that her face was already flushed, "Ah… Yeah… I should do that too."

"Meet you in the kitchen?" Mary asked, walking to the door and unlocking it.

"Yeah." Ib nodded.

The kitchen downstairs was a basic room – from entering the house one only needed to walk forward a bit and take the second path on the left – leading into the kitchen. The room had all of the essentials, and in the middle was a fairly large table with six chairs neatly pushed in around it. The extra two chairs were just in case for guests - for the occasional times when Ib and Mary had some of their friends stay over.

They met in the kitchen about ten minutes later, wearing different clothes from before. Mary had combed her hair, and Ib had opted to just do it later and left her hair looking messed up, with a small band holding it behind her head. Mary gave her an amused look, but said nothing as she lifted up her backpack and pulled out their math textbook and their English textbook. Ib took a seat beside Mary, and the two began to go through the homework, with Mary practically tutoring Ib on her math the entire way through. Fortunately, Ib managed to fare a bit better at her English homework.

It wasn't that Ib hated school – well, she certainly didn't enjoy it – It was that she just preferred to focus on her artwork, which has vastly improved over the years. In fact, even Mary's artwork had improved under Yuki's guidance. The now third-year student was very strict with them when it came to their designs, but she was also very fair, and gave them fair critique – she was even able to whip Aiko into working hard at times, which was a true accomplishment!

"What are you thinking about?" Mary asked, seeing Ib smiling.

Ib looked down at her assignment and sighed, pushing aside the book she had to read and answer questions about, "I'm just thinking about how good of a teacher Yuki is."

Mary smiled at that as well, "She really is, isn't she?" Mary asked admirably, "She even makes me want to try!"

Ib giggled, "Yeah."

Mary then paused, and her eyes lit up, "Oh! I forgot to mention, thank you for talking about the club!" She smiled, "Rin asked me to accompany her tomorrow, so I won't be here for our 'experiment' tomorrow." She put her hands together and bowed her head, "I'm sorry! I forgot until just now!"

Ib frowned, but pushed her annoyance and disappointment to the side, "That's fine," She looked back to her work and started to write down the answers the questions, "I don't want to occupy all of your time – that would be weird."

"Is it about as weird as us kissing?"

Ib's head shot up and she looked around, and she finally settled a glare at Mary with a heavy blush on her face, "Don't say that aloud! What if mom or dad were here?"

"They're not," Mary dismissed her concerns, "Remember? They said they were going out tonight?"

"Right," Ib nodded, remember their mom telling them that earlier, "I'm sorry, I forgot."

Mary chuckled, "Don't worry about it."

Ib went back to writing her assignment, and spoke up, "And to answer your question – no, I suppose it's not quite as weird as us k – kissing." She heated up at the mere mention of the word.

"Oh, I see." Mary mumbled, jotting down her answers into her notebook, and looking quickly back and forth between her notebook and the textbook, and nodding every once in a while.

Ib glanced up and noticed that Mary was so absorbed into doing her school work that she was losing awareness of her surroundings. A feral grin spread across her face, and she slowly got up from her chair, doing her best to create as little noise as possible, and she got up without Mary even being a bit aware of what she was doing. She reached up to her hair and pulled out the band, and as her hair fell around her shoulders and down her back, she snuck behind Mary and touched the girl's ear with the band, and started to wiggle it.

"Mary! What's that?!" She shouted.

Mary's reaction was just as expected, and Ib couldn't help but laugh when the girl shot a hand up to her ear, let out a scream, and jump up, nearly knocking her chair down. The girl blinked rapidly, and then turned and gave Ib a glare, "What was that for?"

Ib shrugged, "Just felt like it."

Mary placed a hand over her heart and let out a sigh, "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Yep!" Ib couldn't help but smile at the glare her sister was giving her.

Mary finally shook her head and got back to work, "Aren't you supposed to be the mature one?"

"Yeah, but it's fun to goof off sometimes."

Truthfully, over the years, Mary had started to mature more and more, and started to take her role as the big sister more seriously. She tried to be a good influence on Ib, and she didn't goof off quite as much as she used to – though she still had fun at Ib's expense occasionally. Ib on the other hand had begun to loosen up quite a bit, and stopped being quite so seriously all the time. It was truly a case of both of them starting to influence one another.

Mary smiled, "That was a good one though."

"I know right?" Ib was glad her sister wasn't being too mad about it, and she continued to smile as she continued her homework, looking forward to meeting at club the next day.

XxXxXxX

The following day's classes were just getting out, and Ib was quietly packing up her bag, putting away her books that she needed to take home, while leaving the rest in her desk. She pulled out her notebook with the assignments written down on it and gave it one more look, and she decided that she did in fact have everything needed. Even if she did miss something, she knew her sister was almost obsessive compulsive when it came to completing their school work, and she would have exactly everything needed to complete their assignments that night.

She frowned, thinking about what Mary said – that she would be with Rin tonight. Even now she felt slightly disappointed, but she internally chided herself for thinking such things, it wasn't as if they were going out, and even if they were, she knew possessiveness was a very unattractive trait to have, and she wouldn't want someone to do the same thing to her. Casting her thoughts aside for now, she pat down her school uniform skirt, and stood up from her seat, and looked across the emptying classroom, and spotted her sister just getting up from her seat.

Mary's blue eyes lit up when they spotted Ib looking towards her, and the girl practically ran over to her, throwing her backpack over her shoulder as she did so.

"Hey, ready for club?" Mary asked, as she walked over to Ib's desk.

Ib stretched her arms out, letting out a content sigh as she did so, and she smiled at her sister, "Yeah, I'm ready to go."

"Remember, I will be heading out with Rin afterwards, are you ok with walking home by yourself?" Mary looked concerned as she asked that, her brow furrowing.

She rolled her eyes at her sister's protectiveness, but she smiled at how genuinely worried she seemed to be all the same, "I'll be fine," She assured Mary, "It's not like we live in a bad part of town."

"True," Mary conceded, her worried frown forming into a smile, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Mary grabbed Ib's hand, again making Ib feel that pleasurable shock that she felt whenever her sister touched her, and the two raced off.

"Hey, there's no need to run!" Ib called to Mary.

Mary slowed down, and ruefully smiled at Ib, "Sorry! I'm just excited!"

"There's being excited, and then there's this…" Ib shook her head, "What exactly are you doing with Rin that got you this way?"

The two passed out of the front doors of the school and took the left path towards the club building. There was a light layer of snow on the ground, and all the trees had lost their leaves, as sure sign of the winter season befalling them. They unconsciously huddled in on themselves; Ib wrapped her arms around her in the cold, while Mary just hunched her shoulders closers to herself as they walked.

"That's a secret," Mary claimed, her lips forming a thin smile, "Rin told me not to tell another living soul."

"Not even your sister?" Ib asked, a little put off.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad," Mary assured her, "If all goes well, we'll be sure to tell you what it's about!"

Ib accepted that for now, and soon the two were inside the club building, where it was considerably warmer compared to the cold outside. The two took the stairs off to the right, and ran to the club room, and entered without much trouble. Mary led the two of them, pushing pass the mass of people gathered in the room until she managed to reach their group gathered by the window.

Rin was now a first year at their school, and she smiled warmly upon seeing both Ib and Mary, but Mary in particular. The blonde hair girl ran to the other, and her green eyes shone as she looked slightly upwards at Mary, "You remember, don't you?"

"Of course!" Mary laughed, giving the girl an affectionate pat on the head, "How could I forget?"

Ib coughed into her hand, trying to stifle her laughter, "Yeah, how could you?"

Also by the window were Junichi and Aiko, both of them were bundled up. Junichi's brown eyes glanced over to Ib, and he raised a hand, "Hey, how's it goin?"

"Everything's fine," Ib smiled pleasantly at him, and she walked over to sit on the window sill beside him, "How are you two doing?"

Aiko was sitting on the opposite side of Junichi, and she opted to answer first in her trademark way – by being very loud, "I'm great!" She cheered, "I'm glad to actually see snow! If it's going to be so cold out, the least it could do is give us a little bit of snow in compensation!"

Junichi shook his head, though he still had a grin on his face, "We've been fine. Yuki came over a little bit ago, and said that since it's so cold out, she and the other third years and deciding how to split up the unused school rooms between all the groups. We're probably going to have to share a classroom with some other group."

"It's better than being outside," Ib mumbled, "It's freezing out there."

As if on cue, Yuki came over to the group, "You're all here, good."

"Hey Yuki!" Mary waved widely at the girl despite the fact that she stood not even a meter away from the girl. Rin at least looked slightly embarrassed from Mary's action, but she was smiling all the same.

Yuki simply inclined her head slightly towards Mary, already far too used to her and Aiko's antics to be particularly fazed by them at all, "We've been assigned to the main building," Yuki spoke up, pointing her arm out the window and towards the actual school building, "Third floor, room 326."

"I've never been to the third floor," Junichi admitted.

"That's because it's where all the third year classes are," Aiko remarked, wagging a finger at him.

"I know that," He rolled his eyes, "I was just saying."

"Anyway," Yuki spoke up, getting order back, "We'll get our art supplies from the back and move there. We're fortunate in that we're one of the few groups that don't have anyone else in the room with us, so let's make the most of it, ok?"

Aiko pumped her fist, "Woohoo!"

Mary wasn't far behind her in the cheer, "Yeah!"

Again ignoring the two girls, Yuki led them to gather painting supplies this time, and the group of six marched down the stairs and back into the bitter cold of outside, going through the cold as quickly as possible to gather in the warmth of the school building. Once inside, Yuki led the group up three flights of stairs, and down another long hallway, and finally to a door on their right labeled 326.

Inside the room was completely vacant – and it was very dark until Yuki flipped the light switch on. There were three columns of desks, with each desk holding three different people, and there were seven rows of desks. At the front there was the podium where the teacher would usually stand, and along the right walls were cabinets filled with books and other school supplies. To the right of the room were windows, each that had a thin layer of snow coating the bottom panes.

"Wow! We get this whole place to ourselves?" Aiko asked, looking around.

"Yep," Yuki nodded.

It didn't take much longer for the group to unpack their supplies, and get straight to work, since they already knew that they would be painting from their imagination that day. Typically they'd have a model or some such, but Yuki admitted that since there was a break in less than a week, that she was taking it easy and just doing easy things for the last few days of club. No one complained about that, not even Ib, who, other than Rin, was undoubtedly the most focused on her work.

And so things went on like that for about two hours. Of course, Mary and Aiko could hardly sit still for quite that long, but they at least tried, which was usually about as much that Yuki asked from them. Ib painted something that her mind kept playing back to – a picture of a woman wearing red reaching out to her. She didn't know the significance of it at all, or where the inspiration to draw such a thing came from, but it just sort of called out to her – she really couldn't explain it any better than that.

"That's a creepy thing you're drawing."

Ib jumped in her seat, and twisted her head around so quickly it was a miracle her neck didn't snap. She leveled a glare at Mary, who quickly backed up.

"Hey!" Mary waved her arms in front of her, "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

Ib let out a sigh, "I'm sorry. You startled me."

Mary giggled, "No, I'm sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading out now with Rin. If you need anything at all, and I mean _anything_, just call me, ok?"

Ib smiled, "Yeah, ok. Have fun with Rin."

Mary peered down at the drawing again, and she frowned, "That seems almost familiar."

"I know," Ib mumbled, "It just came to me, and it wouldn't leave my head."

Mary frowned as she looked at it, and she reached out touching the woman's reaching hand, and she squinted her eyes, as if she were trying very hard to recall a distant memory. Ib watched in fascination as her sister seem to recognize her drawing. After a few more seconds of that however, Mary shook her head and let out a sigh, "I don't know what it is, but I think I've seen that before."

"Really?"

"Yeah…" Mary muttered, "Maybe it - ."

"Mary?" Rin came over, "Are you coming?"

Mary's train of thought was completely shattered, and she glanced over at the girl and smiled, "I'm sorry, I was just talking with Ib."

Ib frowned, her mind was extremely curious to know just what Mary had recognized within her drawing, but she knew the opportunity was gone now. She forced on a smile and looked at her sister, "Go on, I don't want to hold you two back."

Mary grinned at her sister, "Thanks."

With that, Ib watched as Rin practically dragged Mary out of the room, leaving her there with the rest. Aiko had already packed up and Junichi was in the process of packing. Yuki meanwhile was looking down at Ib's drawing, adjusting her glasses as she did so.

"Do you recognize it?" Ib asked her upperclassman.

"No," Yuki shook her head, "I'm just wondering what your inspiration for drawing such a thing was."

Ib felt momentarily flustered, and looked aside, "I – It's not very good, is it? I'm sorry, I just – "

"No," Yuki shook her head, "It's actually well made. I'm impressed. I just wonder why you went outside of your comfort zone to draw such a… peculiar thing."

"I don't know," Ib admitted, "I just felt like it needed to be drawn."

Yuki looked mildly intrigued by that statement, but she seemed to stop before she said anything, and slightly shook her head, "Very well. Keep up the good work." And with that, she turned her gaze over to Aiko and walked over to the girl, "Are you ready to head home?"

Aiko grinned at Yuki, "Yeah! Let's go!"

Yuki walked out with Aiko, leaving only Ib and Junichi in the room. The boy walked over to her and glanced curiously at her drawing, but thankfully he said nothing, and looked her in the eyes, "Are you heading out any time soon?"

"Yeah, you go ahead. I'll be sure to close this place up before I leave."

Junichi shrugged, "You sure you don't want me to walk you home or something?"

Ib forced herself not to roll her eyes – he was just trying to be nice, after all – and she instead gave him a warm smile, "Thank you, but I'm fine."

He reluctantly nodded, "Alright then, have a good day."

With that, she was the last one there, and she just stared down at her painting. What was with it? Why was she having this feeling when she looked at it? It was a feeling of… fear? Sadness? She honestly couldn't really identity her feelings and she finally let out a disgusted sigh and closed the canvas she was working on and shoved it in her bag.

She really wished that she and Mary would have an 'experiment' tonight so she could look forward to something other than her brooding thoughts over that drawing.

XxXxXxX

"I'm really sorry," Mary said, "But Rin wants to meet with me again today, so I won't be able to walk home with you or do our 'experiment'."

Ib frowned, looking at her sister as the two of them were in the bathroom in their pajamas as they got ready for the day – Mary was preparing to jump into the shower, and Ib was brushing her teeth, since she already ate breakfast. Her brushing slowed though when Mary gave her that news, and the disappointment inside of her grew yet again.

"Again?" Ib after she had leaned down to spit out the tooth paste.

"I'm sorry!" Mary repeated, "I'll try to make it up to you."

Ib sighed, "No, it's all right."

Last night had been quite boring, since Mary had been gone until nearly nine that night – she had to explain to their upset parents why she was out so late, but when she said that she was with Rin and that Rin's mom gave her a ride home, they had calmed down, and told her to be sure to call them next time if she planned to do that again, which she promised to do just that. Ib had barely got to see her sister before she headed off to bed. She had hoped to see her sister more today, and now she knew she wouldn't, and she felt… odd.

She couldn't quite identify what the feeling was, but it wasn't good.

Mary was unaware of her inner turmoil however, and simply smiled, "Thank you! I knew you'd understand!"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, and she blinked in surprise when her sister jumped into her, hugging her tightly to herself.

"I love you!" Mary claimed as she hugged her.

Ib's heart felt like it would explode at those words, and she momentarily had to catch her breath – and then she realized what Mary meant. She meant love as in _family_ not _that _kind of love. As her heart settled, she wrapped her arms around her sister, now feeling very sad for some reason, and she blinked a few times, realizing that her eyes were becoming a bit watery. What was wrong with her? She blinked a few more times to rid her eyes of the pesky tears, and when the two parted, she quickly turned around.

"I'm going to change!" Ib remarked as quickly as she could, "I – I'll see you downstairs!"

Mary had no time to say anything, since Ib made a quick retreat out of the bathroom. Ib had run out so quickly that she didn't even properly put her tooth brush away, so Mary made sure to do that for her when her sister was out of the room. Ib rushed into her room, and nearly slammed the door shut behind her, only her self-control preventing herself from doing just that. With the door closed, she let out a shaky sigh, and walked over to her bed and sat down, allowing her tears to fall. She honestly had no idea why she was crying, but something hurt, and so she just had to let it out, especially before she confronted Mary again.

After crying for a few minutes longer, she sniffled, feeling her tears ending, and she reached up and wiped her eyes were the sleeve of her pajamas. Letting out another sigh, she took off her pajamas, since she did in fact have to change, after all.

Going downstairs she felt awkward – she honestly didn't really want to see Mary. Unfortunately, her wish wasn't answered, nor could it have possibly been answered anyway, since the girl she wished to avoid lived in the same house, and she would have inevitably saw her that morning, no matter what she did.

"Morning." Ib spoke up as she went to sit at the table where Mary was. Their mom sitting there as well, drinking a cup of coffee as she read the paper. Their father had already left for work hours ago, and their mother would soon do the same in another half hour.

Her mother's red eyes glanced up at Ib, and she smiled, "It took you a while to come down, Ib."

"I'm sorry," Ib mumbled, dreading what Mary would say.

"Are you almost ready to head out?" The girl opted to say, surprising Ib.

"Um, yeah." Ib answered.

"Good." Mary grinned, and continued to eat the breakfast that their mother prepared.

"Don't forget to brush," Their mother chided Mary, who simply rolled her eyes, having heard her mother tell her that dozens upon dozens of times in the past.

Ib wasn't listening to them though, and she found herself getting lost in her thoughts. Why wasn't Mary acknowledging what had happened upstairs? Didn't she know that she was close to crying when she ran off? Ib began to feel worse and worse the more she thought about it, and her thoughts again went to Mary – she was going to see Rin _again_ that night, leaving her alone…

… Did Mary not care for her?

That couldn't be it, could it? But she refused to acknowledge her crying, though that could have been her just being nice. Maybe she was seeing Rin because she didn't want to see her anymore? No, no! Ib shook her head, she already told herself yesterday that she shouldn't be so possessive, Mary wasn't hers to do with as she pleased! She inwardly growled, her thoughts spiraling to worse and worse scenarios, and she started to grit her teeth.

It was just her over active imagination, nothing more…

"Ib?"

"W – What?!" Ib's head shot up, and she looked to her side, where Mary was shaking her. The girl raised an eyebrow at her response, and Ib blushed in shame, "S – Sorry."

"It's all right," Mary decided to say, "I'm just wondering if you're ready to go in about five minutes?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "I'm ready."

"Ok, then I'll be right back." Mary replied, frowning as she gave Ib one last glance back as she went out into the hallway and then upstairs to the bathroom there.

Ib abruptly stood up and went to the foyer, ignoring the confused expression on her mother's face as she did so. She sat down, and put her shoes on, and she felt tears coming in _again_. She let out a loud groan, and stood once her shoes were on, "Mom!" She called.

"Yes?"

"Tell Mary that I had to leave ahead of her! There's something I want to talk to my professor about before class starts!"

"Ok, I'll be sure to do that!"

With that done, Ib wrapped her coat around herself and rushed out of the door. She felt ashamed for leaving Mary behind, but she couldn't confront her when her emotions were raging inside of her like this. She let out a shaky sigh as she power-walked down the sidewalk towards the school – it was about a twenty minute walk, but if she went as a brisk pace, she could shave off a good five minutes of that walk. Hopefully the exercise would calm her down, because once she was in the classroom, she would have to confront Mary again, and she was positive that Mary would want answers.

XxXxXxX

She honestly didn't know what to make of this – why didn't Mary ask her anything when she got to class? Instead, when Mary finally arrived about ten minutes later after Ib, she had waved to her sister, and with a smile on her face she went to her seat near the window and she sat down. Ib frowned, and looked back to the front of class, since class was beginning, and she felt doubt begin to gnaw at her mind, but she shoved it aside.

So what if she didn't come and ask her? She was probably just trying to be nice! There was nothing she needed to worry about! Mary wasn't one who would want to bring unwanted distress onto her, so she shook her head, feeling foolish for allowing such thoughts to plague her mind in the first place. She pulled out her notebook, and began to take notes when the professor went to the front of class and began his lecture. As usual, she was bored, and she found herself growing slightly annoyed that she couldn't focus fully on her notes, and kept being distracted by her worsening thoughts..

It was with great pleasure that the day finally ended, and Mary ran over to her seat with her backpack fully packed. Ib was a bit sluggish, but she did the same, stuffing her books into her bag that she needed, and then putting the rest in her desk for the next day.

"Ready to go?" Mary asked excitedly.

"What's got you so excited?" Ib asked lightly.

"I really look forward to hanging out with Rin!" Mary giggled at the thought, and she smiled at Ib, "She's actually a lot of fun to be around."

"I see…" Ib mumbled, the uneasy feeling returning, but like usual she pushed it own, and forced herself to smile at her sister.

"Now come on," Mary reached forth and took hold of Ib's hand, "We've gotta go!"

Like every other day, Ib followed Mary out into the hallway, and as they were walking down she noticed that it was beginning to snow outside, and she frowned, it definitely would be another bitter cold day, and she couldn't help but grimace at the thought of watching out in that. She unconsciously started to huddle before even reaching outside and her thoughts unfortunately started to wander again towards Rin, and Mary.

Mary seemed awfully happy to be heading out with Rin, almost too excited now that she thought of it. Mary usually didn't get like that unless if it was something quite exciting or big, so to see her sister get like that did make Ib a little uneasy. Add onto the fact that Mary said that she only loved her as family this morning, then… Maybe Mary was going out with Rin? No, it couldn't be! She shook her head, but the seed of doubt began to grow. She was a mature girl, and she would handle this in a mature way!

First, Mary never admitted that she only loved her as family! That was only her interpretation of it! Though… It did seem weird that Mary didn't do anything when she started to cry… Mary could be a little dim when it came to social interactions at times, but surely she should have noticed her sister beginning to cry? Ib found herself beginning to frown, and her gaze turned to Mary, and she realized they were already outside in the snow, trudging their way through the path towards the club building.

She shook her head, and returned to her thoughts. She didn't know what Mary meant that morning, and she wanted to ask, but she felt too nervous to ask. That was quite personal, and what if Mary said that she actually loved her as a lower would? How would she react to that? She would feel bad for turning down Mary in that instance, because there was clearly no way she felt the same. She couldn't possibly love her sister, for the fact that she was her sister and for the fact that she was also a girl.

She felt her heart give a thump at the thought of herself and Mary as lovers, and it hurt for some odd reason, and she found herself frowning even more… No, there was no way it would work even if she did accept it.

Of course she wasn't in love with Mary. Right? It was just a fleeting childhood crush… Nothing more.

Of course! So why would Mary go out with Rin and not tell her what it's about? They could be secret lovers, but that was unlikely, she was positive that Mary would tell her something like that! They were very close to one another, and she loved Mary with all her heart – as family! As family, yes! Nothing else! She felt her cheeks flush, and looked up, noticing that they were in the club building now and heading up the stairs to the second floor.

Why would Mary not tell her?

Was it because Mary didn't trust her to keep a secret? Was it because Mary didn't like her?

"We're here Ib." Mary turned to her sister.

"I – I need to go to the bathroom!" Ib said quickly, feeling tears prickling the edges of her eyes. She averted her eyes, knowing that Mary caught at least that much. Mary would ask her why if she cared…

"Oh, ok." Mary frowned, and said nothing more.

"O – Ok." Ib started to walk pass her, realizing that Mary would say nothing else, and she felt her heart break at the mere thought – Mary didn't care for her…

"Do you want me to wait for you out here?" Mary asked.

"No, no." Ib shook her head, and blinked a few times to rid the tears, "Please, just let Junichi do it."

"Junichi?" Mary asked in surprise, "Why him?"

"I need to ask him something really important!"

If anything Mary's face seem to turn pale white, and her frown got larger, and she slowly nodded, "A- All right… If you really want…" Ib was about to walk away, but Mary called out, "Hey, wha – what are you going to talk to him about?"

"It's a secret." Ib spat the words back at Mary, and walked away. She didn't even turn around to see Mary or her reaction, and instead burst into the bathroom and ran towards a stall, slamming the door close behind her and covering her eyes with her hands as her tears freely began to fall.

Why would she say that to her? That was so unnecessary! But… What was Mary hiding from her, and what was that reaction about regarding Junichi? She allowed her tears to flow, feeling immensely confused as to why she was even crying – so what if Mary didn't like her or didn't want to do the experiments with her anymore? They were sisters! Practically every other pair of sisters she seen or heard about fought a lot, it was completely normal!

So why did she hurt so badly thinking about how Mary might not even care for her anymore?

Ten minutes later she let out a shaky sigh and opened the stall door and walked over to the bathroom sinks, frowning as she saw her tear-stained face. She turned the faucet on and began to pour water into her hands, and began to splash it on her face, trying to get away all the obvious signs that she had been crying. She let out a sigh – it was times like these that she wished she carried make-up around like Mary did in her backpack.

She wiped her face one last time for good measure, and looked towards the door, feeling glad that there weren't that many girls in there, and those that were there were thankfully not talking to her, because she doubted she could explain what she was feeling, hell, she didn't even understand it herself. She left the bathroom, and walked down the hallway towards the art club room, and saw Junichi standing outside waiting for her.

"There you are," He called, smiling as she walked up, "You were in there for a while."

"I'm sorry," She muttered, "I had an… issue I had to deal with."

"Say no more," He pleadingly asked.

She blushed and glared at him, "Not that!"

"Right, right," He waved off, "So are you ready to head off?"

"Where to?"

"Ah, same room as before," He nodded down towards his hands hanging at his sides, where he was currently carrying two set of art supplies, "I got yours while I was waiting."

She genuinely smiled, "Thank you."

He handed her one of the art sets, and the two started to make their way back towards the main school building, to room 326. As they got outside in the cold, Junichi seemed to remember something, letting out a soft 'oh' as he turned to look at her, "Is there something wrong with Mary, by the way?"

"What? No, not that I know of." Ib answered honestly, getting a bad feeling.

"She told me that you wanted me to wait for you, and she just snapped at me when I asked why, something about you wanting to tell me a secret?"

Ib blushed again, and averted her eyes towards the snow coated ground, "I'm sorry, that was just an excuse. Nothing else."

If anything, Junichi seemed to be a little disappointed, his eyes dropping to the ground and his shoulders slumped a little bit, but he perked back up and smiled, "Ah, I see. Did you two get in a fight or something, then?"

"No." Ib answered, "It's complicated."

"I see." Junichi mumbled, though it was clear he didn't.

The rest of the walk back to the building was uneventful, and thankfully pretty quiet. The amount of students in the hall was minimal, which made sense, since school was out. There were a few students out and about walking, but they were easily avoided. They went up the stairs to the third-year floor, and entered their appointed room.

Upon entering, Ib noticed that Mary and Rin were at the front table, next to the window, sitting down next to one another. Ib noticed that they were chatting and laughing happily with one another over something while they painted their pictures. She didn't know what it was, but she again felt something she couldn't identify go through her mind when she saw how happy the two looked together.

"Should we sit together too then?" Junichi asked, "Or go next to poor Aiko?" He grinned as he looked over at the girl who was just painting stick figures on her canvas, and her head shot up when her name was mentioned.

"Sure." Ib answered, allowing Junichi to lead them to the opposite side of the room from Mary and Rin.

Yuki was in the front of the room, and her eyes flickered on to Ib and Junichi for a brief second before they went back down to her artwork she was painting.

"Sure took you guys long enough!" Aiko grumbled as Junichi sat beside her, and then Ib beside him.

After that the day pretty much went by fairly quickly. Ib had a few times when she was starting to think about Mary and Rin again, but Junichi and Aiko were both more than suitable to pick her spirits back up, and she would laugh and talk to them about whatever strange topic Aiko brought up.

Of course, all good things had to come to an end, and soon it was the end of their session. Ib looked up, and noticed that Mary and Rin were packing, and Mary walked over to her.

"Hey, I'm heading out."

"Ok."

An awkward silence.

Ib looked uncomfortably to the side, and Mary looked like she wanted to say more, her eyes briefly flickering onto Junichi, but she closed her mouth, as if she either didn't want to, or couldn't say the words at the tip of her tongue, and she walked back over to Rin.

"Well, I'm going to walk home with Yuki!" Aiko cheered, "I'll see you two tomorrow!" With that, she ran over to Yuki, and practically pounced on the older girl. Yuki surprisingly smiled faintly at the girl, and looked up and around the room.

"Ib, will you close up again?"

"Yeah, I will Yuki," Ib answered.

Yuki gave a short wave to everyone there, and with that, she and Aiko left.

"So I guess it's just you and me," Junichi mumbled, "Do you want me to walk you home, or not again?"

Ib smiled, glad to have him be there to distract her from the negative emotions that have been swimming through her mind all day, and she nodded, "Yeah, I would appreciate it this time." Her eyes briefly caught those of Mary again, and the girl again had a large frown on her face as she watched Ib talkin with Junichi, and if Ib wasn't mistaken… It looked like she was blinking rapidly and biting her bottom lip.

What was that about?

Did she overhear what Junichi had asked her? Why would that matter at all to her? She was the one who was leaving her to go hang out with Rin, so it was fine if she did the same with Junichi!

A little bit after that, Mary and Rin finally left, leaving the two of them there. Like before, Ib closed the room up, and had Junichi walk her home in the cold weather. They walked on the sidewalk, avoiding the other people walking, and also avoiding the temptation to go into the shops to stay warm as the snow kept coming down. Eventually they arrived at Ib's house, and they stopped at the front steps leading into the building, it was not a bad looking place at all, a two story house in a pretty nice neighborhood.

"Hey…" Junichi said after a small while, "Can we talk?"

"We are now, right?"

He forced out a chuckle, "Yeah, I guess we are."

He had been nice to her the entire day, so the least she could do was listen to him, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering…" He mumbled.

"Yes?"

"D – Do you want to go out with me?" He blushed brightly upon saying that, but kept his eyes staring right into hers, never averting.

Ib felt her own cheeks reddening, and she felt her heart swell. This was the first boy who had ever confessed to her… Maybe she should say yes? However, the thought of saying yes was quickly interrupted when her thoughts turned to Mary, and her excitement quickly turned to uncertainty. She frowned, and looked down, wondering whether to say yes or not.

"I don't need an answer now…" He mumbled.

"No, I'll give you an answer." She shook her head, not wanting to be needlessly cruel and make him wait for an answer.

"All right."

"Junichi…" She muttered his full name, knowing in her heart that she didn't love him at all, she wasn't even interested in him. He was a boy, true, and he wasn't that bad looking at all, but… Mary…

Why did Mary keep appearing in her mind? Why did the image of Mary make her feel like she desperately _had _to say no to him? She finally let out a sigh, and smiled sadly at him.

"Thank you for confessing to me, it really surprised me…"

"But…?" He added on, resignation clear in his face, and he was smiling lightly, "You only see me as a friend?"

"Y – Yes…" She nodded, looking down to the ground, "I'm sorry, but I don't see you in that way. You're a good friend of mine, and I want to stay friends, but I – I – I already have someone I like."

"Ah, who's the lucky guy?"

Guy? No… Ib felt horrible realization that maybe… Maybe that feeling she was having towards her sister was… Love? She felt sick to her stomach… Love wasn't normal. Her heart soared at the thought of Mary, but her mind was more rational, and without the influence of emotions she knew that she would never be able to make it work out, even if she DID want it…

It hurt to think like that though. She didn't love Mary! She couldn't!

"Are you ok?" Junichi asked.

"Oh? Um…" She wiped her eyes, realizing that tears were starting to fall out, "I'm sorry… I just, started thinking."

"I'm sorry if I brought that up," He replied.

"It's not your fault." Ib replied quickly, "I – I'm sorry, but I gotta go in now!"

"Ok," He nodded, and watched the girl run in, bewildered and sad at the same time. Letting out a sigh, he turned around and started the trek towards his home.

Ib burst through her front door, and ran to her room, running up the stairs and slamming her door shut.

No.

She couldn't.

There was absolutely no way she could love Mary!

"Oh no…" She mumbled, falling onto her bed and covering her eyes, letting herself cry for how dumb she was to fall in love with her own sister. She knew she loved her sister during childhood, but she had forced herself to believe that it was only a love one would have for their sibling, not their lover!

Like the night before, Mary was again not present for their 'experiments', and Ib unfortunately never got a chance to talk to her. It wasn't as if she wanted to talk to her though… She doubted she could even look at the girl now, knowing what she felt in her heart. Never had she dreaded a day to come more than then, and that night, she got almost no sleep, with thoughts of Mary plaguing her mind the entire time.


	3. Confession

Confession

The following morning was quite awkward, as both of them sat at the table eating breakfast with their mother sitting beside them. Mary practically refused to look at her, and Ib was thankful of that, since she doubted she could stand to look at Mary very much, since she had her revelation the day prior. They simply ate the food their mom prepared for them silently, much to the older woman's surprise.

Their mother looked back and forth between them, and finally she decided to cough in her hand to get their attention and ask, "How has school been going?"

"Fine." Ib mumbled, still very tired from getting almost no sleep. Across from her, she noticed Mary similarly had bags under her eyes – she must have gotten little sleep as well.

"That's good to hear." Their mother replied, letting it hang, and sighing when neither of the girls felt particularly inclined to say anything else.

"Oh," Mary looked up, but her eyes simply looked to the side of Ib's head. It was clear that she was avoiding looking at her, "I'm going out again with Rin tonight."

"Again?" Their mother asked.

"I'm sorry, it's important." Mary promised the older woman, "Junichi is coming with us too."

"What?" Ib asked, her mouth dropping open.

Mary's eyes looked aside once more, "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah!" Ib stated, glaring at her sister, "What do you need him for?"

"It's a secret." Mary replied, returning her sister's glare.

"Girls…" Their mother warningly spoke up, her eyes darting between the two of them.

"What's the problem?" Mary asked, "Why do you care what he does?"

"I care because he's the only one bothering to keep me company!"

"Why do you want his company instead of mine?" Mary asked, "What did you talk to him about yesterday?"

"I prefer his company because he is the one offering it, and what we talked about is a secret." Ib repeated Mary's words, causing the blonde haired girl to shake in anger, "Yeah, two can play that game!" Ib triumphantly claimed.

"Oh yeah? Are you jealous that we're taking him away then?"

"So what if I am? Isn't it normal for me to be when he confessed to me yesterday?"

"He…" Mary's momentum stopped, "He confessed?"

"Yeah!"

"What'd you answer?" Mary asked, her face again going pale.

"Why do you want to know?" Ib asked, though she started feeling bad when she saw Mary's bottom lip begin to tremble. She opened her mouth, wanting to explain things, but she found herself saying, "I said that I would consider it."

No, why did she say that? Mary's mouth fell open, and she noticed that tears began to fill the other girl's eyes. Mary's reaction startled Ib – why was she doing that? Was it possible that Mary loved Junichi? Did the girl want to date him, and she just ruined her chances? She felt her heart beginning to break at the realization. Mary didn't love her. She was right after all, she only thought of Ib as family, and nothing else.

"I –I got to go to the bathroom." Mary decided to say, standing up abruptly and practically running up the stairs.

"Ib!" Her mother looked at her disapprovingly, "Why were you so rude to your sister?"

"I – I know… I shouldn't have said that stuff to her..."

"Are you ok?"

"Y – Yeah." She answered, reaching a hand up and realizing that she was beginning to cry as well. Realizing that one didn't love you the way you love them hurt a lot, and she wondered if this was how Junichi felt when she rejected him yesterday.

Her mother sighed, "Use the bathroom down here and clean up. Then apologize to her, ok?"

"I'll try." Ib mumbled, feeling worse than she did before.

Unfortunately, Mary waited until the very last second to leave the bathroom, and by that time their mother had already left to go to work. As Mary walked down the stairs, Ib noticed that there were no visible tear stains, or signs that she hadn't slept, which meant that she must have put on some make-up to hide it all. Ib wanted to open her mouth, to say something, but she closed it, and looked aside, unsure of what to do.

"Ready to go?" Mary simply asked as she stood beside Ib in their foyer. It seemed she was willing to just let it go and not talk about it, and Ib wanted to do much the same, she didn't want to think about how sad she was feeling due to the fact that her sister, of all people, loved someone else. It was normal, it was natural, and yet… she absolutely hated it.

"Yeah…" Ib mumbled, and the two were off.

The two didn't say a word to one another the entire way to school, and Ib soon lost her chance to speak to her when they entered their classroom and took their seats. Ib couldn't focus on the lesson at all, and the few glances she stole of Mary, she could see that the usually studious girl was also struggling to pay attention to the lecture and write down any notes. At one point, they even eyed each other, and Ib's eyes widened as she looked away and back down to her notebook, feeling her face flush at being caught staring at her.

The rest of the day passed just as awkwardly, and the two still walked together towards the club, but stayed silent the entire way, not even talking when they went outside into the cold. Like before, they met in the club room, and as per usual now, they left and went back to the main building. Along the way back to the main school building, Ib noticed Rin closing in on Mary, Junichi followed quickly behind her, and Ib started to feel even worse, briefly wondering if she should head to the bathroom and have a good cry. She decided against it, since she had been crying far too much these past few days. She instead rapidly blinked, and looked elsewhere.

Inside their room of the building, Ib decided to go sit near the back, as far away from Mary as she could. Mary again sat in the same place, with Junichi and Rin chatting with her, while Aiko looked confused as she walked back towards Ib, sitting all alone.

"What's going on between you and Mary?" She asked with concern.

"Nothing…" Ib mumbled.

If it was obvious enough for AIKO of all people to pick up on it, then Ib dreaded to think of what the rest of her friends thought of it. Fortunately, other than casting an eye at her and giving a curt nod, Yuki did little else, and it seemed Junichi and Rin were too busy talking with Mary to bother asking her anything. Again, she felt angry at Mary for hanging out with Junichi and Rin, and jealousy at the same towards both of them, since they were with her sister…

"That face doesn't say 'nothing' to me," Aiko mumbled, taking a seat down next to her, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ib blinked in surprise at how concerned Aiko seemed to be towards her, "I – I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk about it." She whispered, casting an eye towards Mary, making sure that she wasn't being overheard.

Aiko gave her an encouraging smile, "So what's the problem?"

"D – Do you promise not to tell?"

"I promise." Aiko claimed.

"I – I think…" She felt tears coming and sniffled as she wiped them away, "I think I love Mary."

Aiko had to quickly bite down on her hand before she shouted out in surprise. It instead came out as a garbled grunt. Letting go of her hand from her teeth, she again stared at Ib, her eyes wide, and her mouth hanging open, "A – Are you serious?"

"Yeah…" Ib mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself and looking down at her blank canvas in misery, "I know it's wrong, but I can't stop it, you know?"

If anything, Aiko seem to become more serious, and she averted her eyes, "Yeah… I actually know the feeling."

"What?"

"I'll tell you a secret too," Aiko whispered to Ib, "I think I love Yuki…"

Now Ib had to stop herself from shouting out in surprise. Thankfully, she had more self-discipline that Aiko did, and simply coughed loudly into her hand instead of biting it, but she was still shocked by the news. She looked to Aiko's sad smile and asked, "Do you really?"

"Yeah…" She let out a sigh, "I feel bad about it every day," She placed her palm over her heart, "My heart beats so fast when I'm near her, and when I hold her hand the touch feels so good…"

"That's true." Ib mumbled, imagining the times she and Mary would do their so-called 'experiments' with one another.

"Like you I haven't said anything because, well…" She chuckled, "She's a girl, and I don't think people would take too kindly to that kind of thing… People already consider me weird as it is; can you image what others would think of me if I did something like that? If I confessed to her?"

"It's not only that for me though" Ib shook her head, "She's my sister… And even if you take into account that we aren't sisters by blood, we're both girls, and if you don't want to take _that_ into account, then I know for a fact that Mary is already interested in Junichi."

"She is?" Mary asked.

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "I found out this morning."

"I'm sorry."

Ib blinked quickly, trying to rid her eyes of tears, but a few rolled down anyway. Despite that, she still smiled at the girl beside her, "Thank you." She wiped her eyes, and looked forward, and noticed that Mary was looking back at her with a frown on her face. Upon being caught however, the blonde haired girl let out a loud 'eep' and turned around. Ib shook her head, unsure of what to make of that, and just tried to focus on her canvas, only drawing long green lines the entire time.

Time seemed to drag that day, but like always it was over soon enough, and they all packed up. Mary didn't seem to want to talk to Ib very much at all, since she almost forced both Junichi and Rin out with her immediately, leaving only Ib, Aiko, and Yuki in the classroom. Yuki had walked to the back of the room, and looked at their canvases. She raised both of her eyebrows upon viewing Ib's, and she looked up at the girl.

"What does this represent?"

"Nothing," Ib shook her head, "I wasn't in the mood to draw today, so I just drew those lines…"

"I think it has a meaning," Yuki insisted.

"What does the great Yuki see in it then?" Aiko asked.

"Sadness."

Both Ib and Aiko were silent at the declaration, and Yuki looked up at them both, her glasses gleaming in the light of the room as she did so.

"I saw you crying back here," She elaborated.

"Oh," Ib mumbled, "That's how you knew."

Yuki nodded her head, "Watching over you all is not all that fun when you and Mary are fighting."

"We're not fighting," Ib immediately replied, "It's… complicated."

Yuki didn't bother to ask for an explanation, she only thinned her lips and looked down at Ib's painting once more and muttered, "I see."

"Do you want to come with us?" Aiko asked, looking over to Ib, "We're heading into the city to hang out for a while."

"No," Ib shook her head, and tried to smile, hoping that it was convincing enough, "I just want to go home is all…"

"Aw," Aiko mumbled, reaching over and patting the girl on the shoulder, "Try not to be so depressed, I'm sure things will work out for you!"

"Thanks for the kind words," Ib mumbled, "but I doubt they will."

Yuki looked to Ib, unsure of what to do or say, "If it's related to Mary, then I suggest you speak with her. If you do nothing, than the situation will only persist as it is, and from the looks of it, neither you nor Mary seem to appreciate this very much."

"Maybe," Ib mumbled, "She won't be home until late tonight though…"

"Then I suggest you do it tomorrow."

Ib looked up at Yuki, and glared at her, "You don't know how hard this is, so stop commanding me to do things!"

Yuki was frowning, and she slowly nodded, "I'm sorry. I don't want to force you to do something you don't wish to do, however…" She paused seemingly trying to find the right words to say, "I… I don't want to see you two like this. You are my friends, and the sooner you resolve this, the sooner I will be happy too."

"Oh…" Ib mumbled, feeling ashamed for snapping at Yuki like that.

"Aiko and I will be taking our leave now, are you sure you don't wish to come with us?" Yuki informed her, and she nodded at Aiko, who started to pack up her supplies in a hurry.

"Yeah," Ib nodded firmly, "I'm sure. I think I'll do what you say, and I'll talk to her about it tomorrow."

Yuki smiled, "I wish you luck."

"And I wish you a lotta luck too!" Aiko gave her brightest smile to Ib.

"Thanks, you guys." Ib couldn't help but smile, even though she felt like crying any second now. As sad as she was, at least she still had her supportive friends. She quickly hugged a surprised Aiko, and an even more surprised Yuki immediately after, feeling at least a little better than she did before. Even if things went poorly, at least she would have someone to talk with.

XxXxXxX

Like the previous two nights, Mary didn't come home until far too late, and she clearly was avoiding Ib, which wasn't all that difficult, since Ib herself was hesitant to even go confront her. Instead, she had allowed the situation to stall, planning to talk to her the next day after they both got home… Yes, she decided, that would be the best time.

The next morning found Ib in the kitchen eating some waffles that she had popped into the toaster along with a bit of syrup, and she watched her mother bustle through the room, the older woman's brown hair swaying all over the place as she darted around.

"What's going on?" Ib finally asked, after watching her mother run around picking up random things off the counters.

"I need to go to work early today," She gave her daughter a quick smile, and kissed her forehead, "Be good for me, ok? It's very important that I go to this, so I won't be able to see you off!"

"I'll be good." Ib promised her mother.

Taking one last look around the kitchen, and running into the living room, the woman finally went to the foyer, put her shoes on, and Ib heard the car start and leave the house. It was now only her and Mary in the house, though Mary was still upstairs taking a shower and getting ready for school. She let out a sigh and looked down at her breakfast; she barely had an appetite since she was so nervous to see her sister.

It took little bit, but Mary finally started to make her way down the stairs, and her sister sat across from her, with her eyes focused solely on the table. Ib bit her lip, realizing that her sister was yet again ignoring her. She let out a breath, deciding that she had to be the one to break the ice.

"Hey, Mary."

"Hey." She answered, still not looking up, "Ready for school?"

"Yeah." Ib nodded, feeling more and more nervous, especially since Mary was refusing to say anything or even look up at her.

"I'm going out again today," Mary mumbled, "Rin wants me to come with her and Junichi."

"What?" Ib asked, her mouth dropping open, "Again?!"

Mary nodded, "Yeah."

"Why?"

Mary looked up for the first time, and Ib noticed that it looked like she again barely got any sleep. That at least made two of them. Mary let out a sigh, and shook her head, "Do you really want to know?" She sounded almost sad as she asked that.

"I do," Ib answered, leaning forward.

"It's related to love." Mary answered evasively.

"Love?" Ib repeated.

"Yes, that's it." Mary nodded, "That's why I wanted Junichi to come yesterday. I – I didn't mean to make you angry…"

"L – Love…" Ib mumbled, "S – so you wanted to confess to Junichi yesterday then?"

Mary actually looked up in confusion at that, tilting her head to the side and she let her mouth drop open, the only sound coming from her was, "Eh?"

"That's why you got so mad at me when I went with Junichi, right?" Ib asked, feeling tears beginning to spill from her eyes, "You were mad that he confessed to me, and you thought I was actually considering it…" She shook her head, "I turned him down."

"You did?" Mary asked in surprise, her saddened expression was instead replaced with one of pure shock, "T- That actually makes sense now."

"What do you mean?"

"I was wondering why Junichi accepted the confession despite the fact that he had asked you. So you actually turned him down?" Ib could see the excitement working its way into Mary's eyes, and Ib felt her own heart breaking with each passing second. It was true then, Mary did love Junichi, and he must have accepted her confession yesterday. It was the only thing that made sense in her mind.

"I did…" Ib sniffled, wiping her eyes, feeling so stupid and idiotic, why did she have to fall in love with her sister of all people? She was perfect – she completed all of her homework, she looked good all the time, she was nice and caring – of course the guys would start asking her out! It shouldn't have surprised her one bit that Mary had accepted one, and now she was probably going to ask Ib to stop their experiments, the one thing that allowed Ib to at least pretend that Mary loved her as much as she loved Mary… It was all going to end.

"Why are you crying?" Mary asked.

"I'm not," Ib shook her head, but the effect was less than convincing, since tears were already streaming down her face and she was sniffling as well. Her hands began to shake, so she settled them down on her lap so Mary couldn't see.

"Seriously, Ib, what's wrong?" Mary asked yet again.

"NOTHING!" Ib yelled, and she shook her head, "L – Look, I'm sorry for yelling." She wiped her eyes and tried not to hiccup. Who knew a broken heart would hurt this badly? She let out a shaky sigh, and forced a smile on her face and looked Mary in the eyes, "C – congratulations."

"For what?"

"You confessed to Junichi and he accepted."

"Huh?"

Ib frowned, "You said he accepted earlier. Were you going to keep _that _a secret from me too?" She felt miserable in her mind. She couldn't believe her sister would try to hide something like that from her! They were supposed to be able to confide in each other!

"I – I think you're getting the wrong idea." Mary remarked, her tiredness from earlier was gone, "I didn't confess to Junichi – I don't even _like _him in that way."

"You just said you did!" Ib growled, "Stop lying!"

Mary's gaze narrowed, "I never said _I _did you fruit loop! RIN confessed to him yesterday!"

"Wh – What?"

"That is why Rin wanted me to go out with her so often!" Mary exclaimed, leaning back in her chair with an unbelieving look in her eyes, "She wanted my help with confessing to Junichi!"

Ib couldn't believe it. She felt her heart lifting, and she suddenly realized how ridiculous she must have looked right then to Mary, crying and blubbering like an idiot because of a misunderstanding. She started to chuckle, and soon it started to become full laughter. This… This meant that Mary wasn't dating anyone!

"You're starting to concern me, Ib…" Mary mumbled, giving the girl a wary look.

"I – I'm so happy!" Ib smiled at her sister, "I thought you had confessed to him!"

"And if I did, why would you be sad?" Mary asked, her eyes turning hard, "Did you want to confess to him instead?"

Oh crap. She couldn't admit to Mary that she loved her! No, in fact, this wasn't a good situation at all! If Mary had gone out with Junichi, she could start to get over her ridiculous love for her sister, and finally get on with her life! She couldn't possibly let Mary know about it, if Mary knew, she would probably think she was a freak and never associate with her again!

"U – Um…" Ib looked down, her heart beating in her ears.

"I don't get it," Mary honestly stated, "Why'd you deny him if you loved him?"

Ib glanced up and saw that Mary was now starting to cry, tears streaming down her face, "I – I didn't want to confess to him. I didn't love him…"

"I don't understand… Why would you be happy then?"

"Because…" Ib looked up, her heart beat was nearly deafening as she looked her sister in the eyes, "I love you…"

Mary's jaw dropped open, and her eyes widened comically large. Ib realized that she had just admitted her secret to the one person she never wanted to know, and she quickly stood up, knocking her chair down, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"I – I know it's wrong!" She shouted, "I – I know I shouldn't love you, and I'm disgusted with myself for it too! B – But you're so smart, you're so nice to me, and you are s- so beautiful too…" She placed her hand over her beating heart, "When I'm around you it feels like my heart will explode, when I touch you it's the best feeling in the world – each touch feels like… like… I can't even describe it! It feels good! I – I think I've loved you since we started our experiments! It's so wrong, but… It feels right whenever I'm around you…" She covered her eyes with her hands, crying loudly now, "I don't know what to do!"

"Ib…" Mary stood up from her own seat, and walked towards her sister who was standing in the middle of the kitchen now.

"I – I'm a freak, I know… I'm not supposed to like girls, much less my own sister!"

"Stop that," Mary mumbled.

"St- stop what?"

Mary stood next to Ib now, and she suddenly threw her arms around her sister, hugging her tightly to herself. Ib couldn't help but let out a startled gasp, and she tried to get out of it, she didn't want Mary to show her pity! Soon however, she started to shake and cry, and wrapped her arms around her sister – the one she loved.

"Are you feeling better now?" Mary asked after Ib had cried into her shoulder for a bit.

"Y – Yeah…"

"Now, let me talk, ok?"

"Ok…" Ib acknowledged, holding her sister close to her as she continued to sniffle, not really sure what she would say.

"When you asked me to let Junichi wait for you instead of me, my heart felt like it was going to shatter into a thousand pieces, but I told him anyway, because I respect you. When you allowed Junichi to walk you home, I felt very, very jealous. I almost left Rin that day to go with you instead…"

"M – Mary?" Ib's eyes began to widen.

"Shush, you said you'd let me talk, remember?"

"R – Right." Ib nodded.

"I knew it was wrong of me to do it, but I decided to lie to you yesterday morning, saying that I was going to need both Rin and Junichi to come with me. I did that so you wouldn't be with him – I know it was wrong, but when you told me that he confessed to you, and that you were actually considering it, I never felt that horrible before. I had to go away and cry because I thought my little sister loved someone else… I thought it was too late, and I didn't know what to do. I felt so guilty, I felt jealous, and I felt angry all at the same time…" She chuckled, "It appears that you were going through the same thing, though."

Ib let out a small giggle, "I – I thought you were going out with Rin at first, and then when you took Junichi, I thought you were going to confess to him."

"No." Mary shook her head.

"Th – then that means…" Ib looked up at Mary, her heart giving a loud thump, "You love me too?"

"I've loved you ever since I've known you."

"N – Not in the family, kind of way, right?"

"In this kind of way." Mary answered, leaning forward, allowing her and Ib's lips to touch. The moment lasted only a few seconds, but in that time, Ib started to cry, so happy that her sister accepted her, despite how gross and wrong she thought it was.

"You're ok with me being a girl?" Ib asked.

"I prefer it, actually." Mary giggled, wiping away Ib's tears, "You're probably way cuter as a girl than you ever would be as a guy."

"I – it doesn't bother you? To be in love with a girl though?" Ib couldn't help but have a little awe in her voice at how loving her sister was.

"It doesn't bother me now, and it never will. I've honestly never been into boys anyway." Mary confessed, "I like how cute and adorable girls are, that is much more attractive to me than a boy ever will be."

Ib blushed at the confession, but at the same time her heart swelled in complete relief and happiness. She smiled despite her tears, "I – I'm so happy… Thank you so much!"

Mary leaned down and kissed her again, "I love you."

"I love you too, Mary…" Ib whispered, kissing her older sister once more, closing her eyes and savoring the feeling and taste. From this point on, they were lovers, and honestly, she was just perfectly fine with that. So what if society thought their union was wrong and disgusting? It wasn't like they had a say in her personal life, so they could all just go screw themselves, as far as she was concerned.

They parted once more, and Mary couldn't help but smile at Ib, "Let's skip school for today."

"What?"

"I know what all our assignments will be for today, and Rin only wanted me to come with her today to guide her from a distance through a date with Junichi." She allowed a happy grin to cross her face, "I've been missing our 'experiments' quite a bit, and I think we have a _lot_ of catching up to do."

Ib giggled, "O – Ok…" The thought of skipping school to do this with Mary – her lover – thrilled her to no end, "Let's go in my room, though."

"Ok!" Mary cheered, and she gripped Ib's hand, and practically bolted it up to Ib's room, since she was so excited. Ib could hardly contain herself either, and they both went upstairs, leaving their dishes out on the counter. The whole way there, Ib couldn't stop her wide smile, since her worst fears weren't recognized, and she had actually gotten her deepest wish – a loving relationship with her sister.

XxXxXxX

The following day Ib and Mary walked together to the art club, going out into the hallway, outside, and towards the club building as always. School had gone well enough, though since Mary was now feeling better; she would send Ib texts during class again, distracting the girl from taking notes. Ib seriously would never be able to understand how a girl who texted during class had such amazing notes, but she decided not to think about it too much.

As they walked outside in the snow, Mary reached tentatively towards Ib's hand, and then stopped, and a small frown crossed her face. She instead looked up towards Ib's inquiring eyes, and she spoke up, "Hey, Ib…"

"Yeah?" Ib wondered what her sister was up to.

"Do you mind if I hold your hand?"

There were so many people around, and while they both loved each other, she wasn't sure if she was willing to allow others to know about it. Though it was just holding hands, so it probably wouldn't be interpreted like that… She was glad Mary had asked her, because if she had taken her hand when she wasn't prepared for it, she definitely would have freaked out.

"Well…" Ib finally nodded, "Ok."

Mary couldn't stop her huge smile, and she leaned into Ib's side and took hold of her hand, giggling happily as she did so. Ib couldn't stop herself from smiling from how happy such a simple act had made her sister, and she too started to giggle a bit, a blush forming on her face as the students walking around them looked their way, but she didn't let it get to her, and she ignored them. They entered the building shortly after, and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

As they walked down the hall towards the clubroom, Mary started to pull Ib pass the room, and further down the hall.

"Mary?" Ib asked, giving the girl a confused look.

"I need to ask you something." Mary quietly remarked, as if not wanting others to overhear, "I want to know if you're willing to do something."

"What do you mean?" Ib asked.

"Come in here," Mary opened the door to the girl's bathroom, and went to the stall furthest away from the door, and fortunately it wasn't occupied. Ib couldn't help but blush as Mary pushed her into it, her mind frantically going over whatever Mary could do to her in there. They were at school! Surely Mary wouldn't do something lewd there! Though the thought of it did start to make Ib's heart pump with excitement…

"I wanted to ask you if you were willing to tell our friends about us." Mary finally spoke up as she made sure the stall door was locked. It was a tight fit with the both of them in there, but it wasn't entirely uncomfortable, since the two of them really had no problem standing so close to one another, though it did cause Ib's heart to beat and made her blush.

"Y – You want to tell them?"

"It's up to you," Mary claimed quickly, "As for me; I'm ready to tell them. I'm ok with the whole world knowing actually, but I know you don't want people to know."

"It's not that I don't like you!" Ib immediately cried, "I do love you, I promise!"

Mary smiled, "I know that, I didn't say you didn't. I understand you're afraid of what others will think if they know you're not into boys."

Ib blushed, "Yeah…"

"And I'm fine with hiding this from people, but I want to know if you'll be ok telling our friends, which is why I brought you in here."

"I don't know…" Ib bit her bottom lip in worry, "Do you think they'll accept us?"

"I do," Mary nodded, "I'm positive they will."

"What makes you so sure?" Ib couldn't help but ask.

"We've known them for almost two years now, and they've all become close friends. I've been with Rin for the past few days, and I kinda-sorta admitted to her that I'm into girls…" She couldn't help but chuckle a bit in embarrassment, "She wanted to know if it was ok if she wanted to ask Junichi out, and I just blurted that out to assure her."

"And she was ok with it?" Ib asked.

"She was just fine with it, actually." Mary shrugged, "It was a bit of a shock to her that I liked girls, and then she asked if I liked her, but I told her not to worry and that I had my eyes set on…" She blushed and coughed into her hands and averted her eyes from Ib, "Eh, someone else."

Ib couldn't help but smile, "Really?"

"Yeah." Mary nodded, "And I'm pretty sure Aiko and Yuki won't mind. Don't tell anyone I said this, but I'm pretty sure that Aiko likes Yuki."

"I know." Ib muttered, "Don't tell anyone that I said this, but Aiko admitted me to two days ago that she liked Yuki when I admitted to her that I loved you…"

"Woah!" Mary's eyes widened, "See? So that's already two of them we know will be completely cool with it, hell, Aiko already knows that you love me, so that means that she'll be more than ok with it, since she'll have seen it coming!"

"We're both still sisters, if you didn't remember." Ib knocked her on the head lightly, "And we also don't know how Yuki and Junichi will react."

"I seriously doubt Junichi will mind – he's a boy." Mary claimed, as if that explained everything, "And I'm adopted. You seem to keep forgetting that. I love our mom and dad to pieces like you do, but I can use the fact that I'm adopted as an excuse to date you, and once I'm of age, there's nothing they can really do about it, even if they object."

"I still don't think we should tell mom or dad right now…"

"Me neither!" Mary proclaimed, "I REALLY don't want to see their reaction!"

Both girls took a moment to shudder at the meltdown that would occur at their house if either of their parents were to catch wind of what they were doing with one another. Actually… They erased the horrifying thoughts from their mind, and decided not to picture it.

"You think Yuki won't mind then?"

"I really doubt it," Mary answered, "Yuki has been very good to us ever since we've known her. I would honestly be very surprised if she had something against us for doing this."

"Me too," Ib admitted, and she finally hesitantly smiled, "Well… If you're so sure that they'll accept us, then I'm ok with us telling them, and ONLY them."

"Yay!" Mary cheered, wrapping her arms around her sister for a quick hug, "I love you!"

"I – I love you too!" Ib claimed.

"Let's go then, they should be leaving in a few minutes." Mary let go of Ib.

Mary turned around to open the stall door, but Ib quickly reached forward to grab her older sister's shoulder, and she had a really big blush on her face as she did so. She averted her eyes, and in a very tiny voice she asked, "C – Can we kiss for a little bit?"

"Hah!" Mary turned back around, and once more embraced her sister, "My little sister is getting pretty daring now, isn't she!"

The two spent several minutes in the stall kissing one another, and soon they left, Ib making sure to lift up the collar of her school uniform, since Mary had gotten a bit over-zealous in her kissing, though at least she returned the favor, making Mary have to do the same exact thing. Both girls went to the sink and quickly fixed their messed up hair, and made sure the red marks on their neck weren't visible, and they both left the bathroom holding hands.

Unfortunately, kissing had made them late, and the two had to go into the art room and get their supplies without their friends around. They then had to leave the club building and head towards the main school building once more, going up to the third year floor, and again entering room 326. When they opened the door, they saw that Yuki was again at the front podium, and the rest of their friends were all sharing one table. They all had their canvases out in front of them, but Rin was blushing and smiling, while Junichi also looked distinctly embarrassed, but he too looked very happy.

"You guys missed it!" Aiko practically yelled, "Little Rin actually got together with Junichi!"

"We weren't sure if you'd be here," Rin claimed quickly, "So we told Yuki and Aiko, since winter break is starting after today! If we had known you two were coming, we would have waited!"

"Don't worry about it," Mary waved it off, "And congratulations!"

Junichi's gaze wandered to the sister's hands clasped in one another, and he actually smiled, "Ah, so you two finally made up?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "That's one way of putting it."

"Thank god," Aiko pretended to wipe her head of sweat, swatting her black hair out of the way, "You don't know how sad it was to see you two like that!"

"We… Kind of have an announcement to make too." Ib proclaimed, "Mary and I… Um…" Mary squeezed her sister's hand for support, and Ib sent her sister a grateful smile, "We've decided that we're lovers now."

"What?" Junichi asked, his jaw hanging open.

Rin blushed bright red, and her green eyes darted towards Mary to ask, "You mean _she _was the one you liked?"

"Yep!" Mary nodded.

Aiko meanwhile was completely frozen, and her brown eyes bore into Ib's, "You… Admitted your feelings to her?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "I – I had to… My heart felt like it was going to burst if I didn't…"

"I – I see…" Aiko muttered quietly, her eyes looking to the floor, an act that seemed almost out of character for the usually eccentric girl.

"Congratulations." Yuki blinked once, "I was wondering when it'd happen."

"You knew?" Mary and Ib both asked at the same time.

"It was very obvious." Yuki nodded, "I'm glad you two were able to admit your love for one another." The girl looked almost wistful at that.

"You're sisters though," Junichi muttered, a blush creeping up on his face. "Lovers who are also sisters, huh?" His blush got brighter and brighter red, "Mary and Ib…"

Rin smacked him on the back of the head, "Get your head out of the gutter!"

"Sorry! I – it's just… Well, it's not a very common situation, is all."

"It's fine." Mary waved it off, "So do you all accept us?"

"Yeah," Junichi nodded, "I'm just surprised, that's all."

Rin and Yuki both nodded as well.

"It must feel nice to get something like that off of your chest," Aiko mumbled, but she forced a smile on her face anyway, "Congratulations."

Ib actually walked forward to hug the girl, and while in their embrace, Ib whispered very quietly, so only the black haired girl in her grasp could hear, "You should admit your feelings too."

"Maybe…" Aiko whispered back, and the two parted.

All of their friends accepted their relationship! The fact that they were sisters barely played into it! Granted, all of them knew that they were adopted by this point, so that must have been a factor, but Ib was afraid that they would have made a bigger deal out of it. She couldn't help but smile as she and Mary both went to their own table, and set down their own canvases to begin to draw with. This was the last day before winter break, and so Yuki had, like the previous days, allowed them to do whatever they wanted.

Ib decided to do a tribute to her love – she started out drawing a green dress like she had so many years ago, on the day they started their 'experiments', and then began to work in the detail, adding in a smiling face, and then bright blue eyes staring back.

"I like that dress." Mary complimented, "Where did you see it?"

"I…" Ib frowned, "I don't know. I could have sworn I've seen you in it before."

"It looks like the dress I wore as a kid," Mary smiled at the memory, "Right around when we first met."

Ib nodded, but even then, she still felt somehow odd about it, like it was trying to tell her something. She shook her head, and smiled – it didn't matter. Mary was with her here and now, and they were lovers, something that made her so very happy.

She really looked forward to their winter break.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

So this ENTIRE chapter had to be rewritten, in addition to about half the previous chapter. This chapter is a just about 7,000 words, if you're curious. I had accidentally deleted my story before I was able to back up all my progress, so I lost quite a bit of it. Let me tell you, that isn't a good feeling, when you realize that you've just lost everything you've worked on for the past few hours. Thankfully, I still had the first 12,000 words backed up, so it wasn't all lost. I ended up changing this part of the story as a result however. For instance, in the first version, I made it so only Ib is getting distressed - the whole situation with Mary getting jealous of Junichi and such didn't happen. I also gave the OCs more screen time in the second version. Overall, I honestly don't know which one was better, but I'm happy with this result anyway.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Double Date

Double Date

Ever since that December, the two had been secretly lovers. All it really entailed was that they would sneak into each other's room occasionally (Mostly Ib's), and they would also occasionally go out on dates with each other, but every time those occurred, Ib would make sure their physical contact was at a minimum, and wouldn't allow Mary to kiss her where others could see, due to fact that their relationship was a social stigma. It did annoy Mary some, but she understood her sister's concerns, and respected her wishes to keep all signs of them being lovers hidden.

And so the years went on, and two months after Ib's fifteenth birthday, they both took high school entrance exams, and much to Ib's excitement and honor, she had been accepted to an art school. Mary on the other hand wasn't as thrilled to do art as much as her sister was, and she opted to simply go for a general-education high school, and she had been surprised to see that Junichi had also gone to the same one she did. Both High Schools were fortunately within the same city, so Ib and Mary could commute to them together for a while before parting ways.

Unfortunately, Aiko's family moved a few months prior to Ib's birthday, and she was now in a completely different city. While they still kept contact and texted each other a lot, it just wasn't the same without her with them in their art club. Though Aiko was already very subdued, since the previous year Yuki had also gone to a different city to go to a very prestigious high school, and they had barely seen her since then.

Now it was late June, and the weather was very warm. Ib was in her room, painting on her canvas after a long day of school, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," She called out, returning her attention to her painting.

"Hey!" Mary bounced in, her blonde hair had been cut so that it only now reached her shoulders, but her blue eyes were as bright and shining as ever. She was just wearing very casual clothes, a loose T-shirt and some shorts, since it was so warm. Ib could still remember the shock her friends had gone through when they saw her with shorter hair, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of it. "Whatcha laughing about?" Mary asked.

"Thinking about how Rin and Junichi reacted to you with shorter hair." Ib answered honestly, decided to get some red paint to splash onto her canvas.

"That was pretty funny," Mary's smile widened, "Why are you still wearing your uniform?"

That was one of the differences between their high schools. While Mary's didn't have a dress code, much to the girl's cheer, Ib's high school did have one. She was forced to wear a white blouse with a teal collar and seams, and a teal skirt that reached to her knees. Fortunately she could wear whatever socks she wanted, but the outfit repulsed Ib, and she wondered if she could have a convincing argument to the school board that it repressed their 'artistic freedom'. She at least was able to keep her hair however she wanted, and whereas Mary decided to cut hers, she had decided to allow hers to grow, and she almost always kept it in a ponytail now, and it reached almost to her thighs now, but not quite.

"I didn't feel like changing," Ib admitted, "I just wanted to paint."

"Do you mind if I watch?" Mary asked.

"No, not at all." Ib answered, and went back to painting. Mary was always a quiet observer, and she actually enjoyed her lover's presence with her whenever she painted. It made her feel… special, she guessed.

"Thanks," Mary replied and walked over to sit down on Ib's bed, giving the shorter girl a gentle pat on the head as she passed. That was another thing that annoyed Ib a little bit – Mary was definitely the more physically matured of the two, standing almost a head taller at five feet and eight inches, while Ib stood at just barely half an inch over five feet. That didn't take into account their other areas of growth where Ib again got the short end of the stick. Ib was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Mary giggling from behind her.

"W – What is it?" Ib asked through a forming blush, realizing that she had been deep in her thoughts and not painting while Mary was present.

"What are you thinking about?" Mary asked with a sly smile.

"Nothing." Ib answered immediately.

Mary pointed at her hands, and Ib realized that during her thoughts she started to cup her chest, and she quickly dropped her hands with an intense blush on her face, and Mary just started to laugh.

"I – I…" Ib couldn't make an excuse.

"You're cute like that," Mary insisted, "My younger, smaller, cuter, sister." She stood up and stood next to Ib, looking own lovingly into her eyes.

"Uh…" Ib's mind was fumbling now.

Mary didn't hesitate much longer, and just leaned down to kiss her lover on the lips, which Ib savored to no end. They parted, and Mary just smiled down at Ib, gently caressing her face, and getting stray strands of hair out of her face.

Ib couldn't help but think that despite the fact that Mary was definitely the more feminine of the two, she was also more of the aggressor in their relationship, while she almost always was the passive one, allowing Mary to do what she wanted. There were of course a few times where she would initiate an action, but most of the time it would be up to Mary, since she'd be too embarrassed to ask Mary for anything, even though they had been together for over a year and a half now.

"I – ah – got to get back to my painting!" Ib decided, turning around and beginning to paint on her canvas once more, trying to hid the fact that she was blushing so much.

"That's fine," Mary returned to her seat on the bed, "I came in here for another reason though."

"What reason is that?" Ib asked.

"Junichi talked to me and said that he and Rin wanted to go on a date with us."

"A double date?" Ib turned to look at her.

"Yeah, exactly!" Mary nodded enthusiastically, "I told him I'd have to ask you first, though! It's this Sunday, and we'd meet in the city park."

Ib frowned and thought about it, "I don't know…"

"It'll be fun. I promise I won't kiss you in public or anything like that! You can trust me, right?"

"I know I can trust you," Of course, that was never in doubt, "It's just that…" She felt her common blush returning to her face, "I – I might get jealous seeing them kiss each other or something…"

Mary chuckled, "Don't worry. They're not the kind of couple who will kiss in front of their friends every five seconds. I doubt Rin would have stayed with him for this long if he was!"

Rin WAS very shy, so that was at least true, "I guess…" Ib muttered, "Well. I guess it can't hurt, we might as well, right?"

"That's the spirit!" Mary cheered, "It'll be really casual, so don't wear anything fancy!"

"I wouldn't want to even if we had to," Ib looked to her sister with a smile, "It might be fun, and it has been a while since I've last seen Junichi and Rin."

With that decided, Mary pulled out her phone and texted Junichi, confirming that she and Ib would go out with them on Sunday. After that was done, Mary settled down and continued to watch Ib paint, occasionally bringing up some topics to talk about to pass the time.

XxXxXxX

That Sunday couldn't come quickly enough. Ib felt herself growing excited with each passing day, and even Mary seemed even more happy and eccentric as the day came closer and closer. Fortunately, it was only a few days wait, and it finally arrived. After eating a very light breakfast, both girls went into their rooms to change into their outfits that Sunday morning. Ib was the first done, and she went downstairs and into their the living room.

The living room was very large, and it was the room one could reach upon immediately turning left when entering the front door. The room have a large TV set and a couch and two chairs gathered around it. There was a large window at front, from which they could see the entire neighborhood, and along the walls were bookshelves filled with all sorts of books and other things the family had put there over the years. The TV was currently on, showing the local morning news, and her father was sitting on the couch.

"Hey dad," Ib called upon entering the room, and taking a seat at the couch with him.

He took a glance at her and raised both eyebrows, "What's with the get up?"

"Mary and I are heading out together today!" Ib grinned enthusiastically.

"With some boys?" His gaze narrowed, "You know I don't mind if you date, but I would appreciate it if you'd tell me."

"It's not with any boys!" She assured her father, "I'm not into any boys right now!" or probably ever, she thought humorlessly to herself.

He shrugged, "I trust you." And his gaze went back to the TV screen, though she could see a grimace crossing his face – her father wasn't a very convincing liar.

"Hey!" Mary's voice filled the room, "You ready to go Ib?"

Ib turned around, and found her jaw dropped, and a huge blush creeping up on her face. She thought Mary said that this date was going to be casual, yet Mary seemed to have gone all out with her outfit. The blonde hair girl's make-up made her blue eyes very prominent and beautiful, and her lips were just a little bit red. Her hair was tied back neatly in a bun held together by two chopsticks. She wore a white sleeveless spaghetti strap blouse that, and a black skirt that ended up above her knees. Over her blouse she wore a cardigan that was left open. To finish it all off, she was wearing high heels that boosted her height by almost another three inches, making her almost a whole foot taller than Ib.

"You like it?" Mary asked, doing a little twirl for Ib.

"I feel really underdressed now," Ib admitted, trying to hide her blush.

Mary giggled, and walked over to wrap her arms around her sister, "I think you look very cute."

Ib had decided to go very casual for their date, keeping her hair in its very long ponytail and like her sister, she wore a bit of eyeliner to make her red eyes seem more prominent. She wore a sleeveless beige button up blouse and tight jean shorts that ended halfway down her thigh. She wore sandals, and a bracelet on each wrist, but nothing more than that. Her purse was still on the couch, and she noticed her father's eyes were looking at them curiously.

"Uh!" Ib immediately broke the hug, not wanting to give her father any idea as to what was going on between his two daughters, "We're heading out now!"

"Yeah!" Mary gave her father a wide wave, "We'll be home later tonight! Don't bother making dinner for us!"

"Where are you two going?" He asked again.

"On a date!" Mary answered immediately, causing Ib's heart to drop.

"Oh really?" He eyed Ib with a gaze that meant that she would be in trouble pretty quickly if she didn't say anything. Fortunately for Ib, Mary again cut in.

"We're going out with each other!"

Their father blinked, and he tried to process it, and it seem to finally click after a few second, and a smile crossed his face, "Oh. So you two are going out to play together then? That's fine, but…" He looked to Mary, "You're dressed up quite nicely for just that."

Mary shrugged, "I like looking nice, and don't worry…" She reached into her purse, and pulled out a small can of pepper spray, "If any guys approach us, I'll just zap em with this stuff!"

That seemed to satisfy their father, and he nodded, "Very well. Have fun."

As the two girls walked out the front door, Ib couldn't help but reach up and smack her older sister on the back of the head, "Why'd you say that?"

"I knew he wouldn't believe me if I told him we both were going out, and it's not a lie either!" She smiled, "So he interpreted it how he wanted, and now we're both free to go! Isn't that the best outcome we could have hoped for?"

Ib let out a sigh, "I guess so."

"Ready to go?" Mary asked again, "You didn't forget anything, did you?"

Ib looked through her pursed that was strapped around her shoulder and dug through it. Cellphone, money, change, handkerchief, and a few other things were present, so she looked up at her sister, "Yeah, this is everything."

"Awesome!" Mary cheered, "Now let's go!"

"Are you seriously going to walk in heels?" Ib asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Doesn't it hurt?"

Mary smiled, "Nah, I'm used to it. Thanks for the concern though!"

"Wait, there's one more thing…" Ib muttered.

"Yeah?"

"Before we go… Let's…" She blushed, hating how timid she got when she wanted to do this, even though she had done it so often now, "Let's k – kiss…"

Mary smiled kindly towards her younger sister, and she walked close to her, wrapping her arms around her. She watched as Ib seemed to melt in the embrace, and she lifted her head up towards her, getting on her tip toes and closed her eyes, her lips glistening. Mary didn't wait any longer, and leaned down the rest of the way, gently kissing her sister on the lips, and she felt Ib's hands gripping her sweater as it continued, and soon they parted. She giggled at how flushed Ib's face was, a common occurrence whenever they kissed.

"Ok," Ib smiled at her sister, "I'm ready!"

With that the two walked down the street towards where their old middle school was, but they stopped about halfway there when they reached a bus stop, and waited for the bus to arrive. There were a few other people standing around, so the two for the most part just acted naturally, though Mary did reach over and take hold of Ib's hand, not that the younger girl minded. When the bus arrived they boarded, and headed into the city towards the park.

Once they got off, they followed the side walk a bit longer, and made it into the park, where there were still quite a bit of people around, but they saw who they were looking for sitting on a bench.

Junichi was wearing a plain white T-shirt, and over that he was wearing a button-up shirt. His hair was combed neatly to one side, and it was clear that he had put some gel in it. He was wearing jeans, and he was chatting actively with the girl seated beside him. Rin had her blonde hair flowing freely behind her back, and had a band on the top to make sure none of it fell into her face. She was wearing a similar sleeveless blouse like Ib, but was instead wearing a skirt that went to her knees, and she also wore heels, making her about three inches taller than Ib.

"Ah!" Junichi grinned as he spotted them, and he started to blush a bit, considering how well dressed they were. He stood, and was only an inch or two shorter than Mary – he would have been taller than her if she hadn't been wearing heels, however. "You guys are here!"

"Hello," Ib gave a short wave as they met up.

"You look so cute!" Mary complimented Rin's outfit.

"Thank you," Rin said with a slight blush, "You both look good too."

Ib gave her a warm smile, "Thank you," She turned to Junichi, "You look good too."

He chuckled lightly as he scratched his hair and stood up, looking around, "So, are you guys ready to eat, or is there something else you want to do first?"

"Lunch sounds fine," Mary remarked.

"I agree," Ib muttered. She and Mary had only a light breakfast that morning, since they had anticipated going out to lunch first thing.

"All right then," Junichi nodded, "Where to?"

"What do you feel like eating?" Rin asked.

"Whatever you guys want," He answered with a non-committal shrug.

Mary took a seat at the bench, crossing her legs, "What about you Ib?"

"Oh, I don't mind." Ib answered.

"Well…" Rin giggled at the complete lack of any concrete answers, "How about we just walk around then and see what there is to eat?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Mary grinned, standing up, and being sure to grab Ib's hand once more. Junichi noticed their holding hands, and he again felt his face get a bit warm, so he looked elsewhere. Instead he looked to Rin, and held his hand out to her, and the girl happily accepted.

"Let's go this way," Junichi suggested, pointing down the path, the opposite way both Ib and Mary had come from.

As they walked down the sidewalk of the city, everyone looking curiously into the windows to see if they held anything they liked or wanted to eat. There were quite a bit of people walking in the streets, so the two couples made sure to keep hand contact with one another so they didn't accidentally get separated. The party of four eventually decided to settle down in a small café. They opened the door to the building, seeing that there were all sorts of cakes and sweets on display up at the counter, and they all went to look.

"Those look really weird," Junichi noted, pointing to some colored pastries that looked almost looked like hamburgers.

"They're macaroons." Ib answered immediately, and then blinked in confusion right after. How did she know that?

"Are they good?" He turned his brown eyed gaze to her.

"I – I don't know…" Ib muttered, her head throbbing as she tried hard to think of where she heard someone talking about them before. She closed her eyes, focusing on the thought – macaroons – what was it about them that make her feel like that?

"What are you getting, Ib?" Mary turned around to address her date after having her fill of looking at the treats.

Whatever path her mind was following was immediately lost, and Ib frowned, "Damn…"

"Is something wrong?" Mary's happy smile dimmed a bit, and she reached over to touch Ib's shoulder, gently patting her.

"I'm fine," Ib shook her head, the thought probably wasn't important anyway, "I was just thinking about something."

"Oh," Mary mumbled, "Was it important?"

"I don't know." Ib muttered, "It felt like it was important, but if I can't remember it, then it might not be very important in the long run, can it?"

Mary chuckled, "I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

Ib still couldn't get it out of her head, and her eyes looked to the floor, her lips again forming into a frown.

"You sure you're fine?" Mary asked again.

"Yeah," Ib shook her head, and forced on a smile, "I'm sorry, I don't want to be a killjoy."

Mary didn't look entirely convinced, but she decided to drop it, since Ib was willing to do the same. Instead she allowed herself to smile as well, and she turned to the sweets, "What do you want?"

"Maybe we should save these for dessert?" Rin suggested, "They have other things to eat here that aren't candy or cakes."

"Aw, that's so boring," Mary replied, though she still had on her friendly smile, "But since you suggested it, I guess its fine."

With that, the group wandered into the building proper, having just headed directly forward towards the counter when they first entered. All around the building were black tables that had intricate designs on them. Of course, due to the designs, there were many small holes all over the tables and chairs, but that's why the food came out on a plate. Most of the tables were window seats, and they could see that there was a patio where they could eat outside, and since it was such a nice day, the group opted to go out and eat there. There was quite a crowd, but they were fortunately able to find a nice corner in the fenced off patio where they would be undisturbed, and the four sat around the small table, opening up the umbrella to shade them from the late morning sun.

After waiting a minute or two, a waitress finally came out, dressed in a very intricately designed outfit that was quite modest, showing no skin, but at the same time exotic, because it showed off the woman's curves very well. She took their drink order, all of them wanting some form of tea, and then she went away.

"Wow," Mary looked at the woman as she walked away, "Talk about a nice outfit!"

"No kidding." Junichi replied immediately.

"Hey," Ib grumbled, "Don't look at her like that."

She blushed when Mary giggled as she looked over to her, "I'm just complimenting a finely dressed woman when I see one! You thought she was pretty sexy too, right?"

Ib's face flushed, and she twirled fingers as she looked down. Now that Mary mentioned it, she did look nice… Her mind started to imagine Mary in that outfit, and she felt her face heating up more, and she let out a soft chuckle as she played out her fantasy as to just _why_ Mary would be wearing that outfit in the first place. She'd walk into her room as she was painting, and would reach over and start to kiss her gently, and then…

"I think we lost her," Junichi mumbled, seeing Ib's blushing face and distant eyes, the girl giggling every few seconds. It was actually kind of creepy.

"I wonder what she's thinking…" Rin mumbled.

"Let's find out." Mary turned towards her lover, and asked, "Hey Ib, how to do I look?"

"Fantastic." Ib breezily replied, "You should wear that more often…"

"Wear what?" Mary's mouth stretched into a wide grin.

Ib blinked a few times, returning to the real world, and she looked over to Mary, and then immediately blushed, "Oh! Uh! Nothing!"

"That didn't sound like nothing!" Mary laughed, "Come on! You were imagining _me_ in that outfit, weren't you?"

"H – How'd you…" Ib's blush covered her entire face.

"Cause I was thinking of you in it," Mary answered with a satisfied smile.

Ib was really subdued for a little while after that, refusing to look at their waitress the entire time. They got their tea and then something to eat afterwards, though since it was a café it was still a pretty light lunch. Afterwards, they all ate some sweats that they saw at the counter, both Mary and Rin taking absolute delight in picking their favorites. Ib and Junichi just stood back, not really caring what they wanted to eat, only glad that their dates were so happy. Eventually, just as noon started, the four left the café, and they stood outside, deciding what their next move should be.

"Where to now?" Junichi asked.

"We can go see a movie," Ib suggested.

"What do you think, Rin?" Junichi asked his girlfriend.

"Um, if it's what you all want to do, then I'm fine with going," She gave a friendly smile, and said little else.

"Well, I'm fine with it," Mary answered, "What movie though?"

"What's even playing?" Ib asked.

"I guess we can go check it out," Junichi pointed down the sidewalk, "the theater is a few blocks away from here."

"Then let's go!" Mary cheered, taking the lead as they marched onward to the theater.

When they got there, they looked at the front of the theater, where a sign was posted showing all the movies and the times they were playing at. There were all the typical things, a romantic comedy, horror, action - the usual really. Nothing particularly popped out at any of them, and no one seemed to be willing to pick one for the entire group.

"Horror movies are fun!" Mary claimed, "And since we're on a date, we can hold onto each other when the really scary things happen!"

"I don't really like horror," Rin admitted, "Maybe a comedy?"

"A comedy sounds fine to me," Junichi agreed with his girlfriend. Whether it was due to his own preference, or he just wanted to please her, was anyone's guess, but either way, Rin seemed to approve, and gave him a grateful smile.

"What about you, Ib?"

Ib was staring at the picture of the horror movie. She had never heard of the film before, but the picture seemed to trigger something from her memory. It wasn't that there was anything specific about it that jogged her memory; it was just that the picture of a woman running down a darkened hallway, with a figure of something chasing after her looked so familiar to her. She again felt like this memory was important, yet she was annoyed that she was having it in the middle of her date with her lover, and so she tossed it aside, and looked up, "What'd you ask?"

"I was asking what movie you want to see." Mary repeated.

"Oh," Ib turned to the sign, and pointed at the picture she was just observing, "Horror movies are pretty fun. It could be interesting…" she shrugged, "I'm fine with whatever, though."

"So two votes for comedy, two for horror, huh…" Mary mumbled, "Well, this shouldn't be too hard. Rin and Junichi can go see the comedy, and Ib and I can go see the horror movie!"

"That sounds fine," Junichi agreed.

"Let's see. The next showing of ours is at twelve thirty, and the next showing of yours is at twelve forty-five." Mary smiled, "That's perfect! The comedy is a shorter movie anyway, so it's good that it'll start later!"

That being decided, the two couples ordered their tickets, and went their separate ways for now. Now by themselves, Ib and Mary stopped in the larger lobby of the theater, and Mary gave Ib a quick look, "Is there anything you want to eat while we watch it?"

"No," Ib shook her head, "I'm fine. I don't really like eating when I'm watching bloody movies anyway, it ruins my appetite."

Mary chuckled nervously, "I'm actually kinda scared already."

"What?" Ib looked towards her sister, "You're the one who voted for it!"

"You know I'm not good with horror movies!" Mary chided, "Remember when we stayed up late at night, watching that movie when mom and dad were away?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, yeah, I remember." She could CLEARLY remember it actually. She could recall how Mary had practically made her lap her new seat, and she would cover her eyes and shake whenever a tense scene would play with its slow music that would build up throughout the scene, and she could even recall how Mary would scream and bury her face in her shoulder. Then later that night Mary had come into her room and slept with her arms held tightly around Ib, since she was still frightened. Ib couldn't help but giggle at the memory, Mary wasn't good with horror _at all._

"Yeah, so…" Mary faintly blushed, "Sorry in advance if I scream too loudly."

"Honestly, Mary," Ib shook her head, "If anything from the horror movies did exist, you could just step on them, since you're so tall!"

Mary chuckled, "Very funny, Ib."

The two walked into the dimly lit room where their movie would be playing soon, and Ib was astonished to see that Mary had not been lying, the girl was already shaking as the two took their seats down in the middle of the theater, and there were many other people there. Several other couples too, already cuddling up and preparing for the movie. Ib looked over to Mary, and saw that the girl was shaking, but she had a smile of anticipation on her face all the same. Ib averted her eyes towards the other couples again, and noticed that they lifted up the arm rest between their seats so they could hold each other.

"Hey, Mary." Ib whispered.

"Yeah?" Mary looked over.

"Do you…" Ib blushed, "Um…"

"Do I…?"

Ib let out a sigh, "Here." She couldn't bring herself to ask, but she could make herself act. So she lifted the armrest between herself and her lover, and blushed madly as she patted the extra room that had created.

"Really?" Mary's eyebrows both shot up, "You're ok with doing that in public?"

"It's dark in here," Ib countered, and then she looked aside, "And… well… I like you holding onto me. It makes me feel… special, knowing that you rely on me."

Mary's resulting grin was worth the embarrassment, Ib decided, and the taller girl immediately leaned into her side, kneeling down slightly so her head would rest on Ib's shoulder, and she wrapped her arm around Ib's body. Ib in return made sure to put her arm over her sister's shoulder, and she held one of her hands. She couldn't help but smile when the movie started, the theater went almost completely black, and she felt Mary's grip on her tighten as the opening began.

Two hours later, they walked out of the theater, hand in hand, Mary had a large frown on her face, and even Ib looked a bit disappointed.

"That ending was so sad!" Mary exclaimed, turning to look at Ib, "I wanted her to get away, but she ended up dying!"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "I wish she had gotten away too."

"Why do so many horror movies have to have downer endings?" Mary grumbled as the two continued on their way back to the lobby of the theater, with several dozen people all around them, talking about the film they had just seen.

"It's just a staple of the genre." Ib explained, "People associate horror with negative emotions, and so they think that it has to be ONLY negative emotions the entire time."

"I don't like that," Mary declared, "When I direct my horror movie, I'm going to make sure that it ends on a happy note!"

"You're going to direct a movie now, are you?" Ib asked dryly.

Mary giggled, her mood improving, "No, not really."

"I agree with your sentiment though," Ib sighed, squinting her eyes at the sunlight pouring into the lobby of the theater, "Just because it's horror, doesn't mean the ending has to be sad, or a downer, or other such things." She shook her head, "Still, that movie ending wouldn't have been quite as bad if the twist at the end wasn't so cruel."

"Yeah," Mary muttered, "It's going to keep me up tonight…"

"Well…" Ib squeezed her hand, "You can just sleep with me if you want…"

Mary smiled, "You're pretty bold today!"

"Well," Ib blushed, and looked away, "We are on a date."

"We are." Mary confirmed, and Ib wished that she could just kiss her right there. She shoved away the thought, knowing that they were in a crowded theater, and there was absolutely no way she would kiss a girl in public. Though… She looked at Mary again, and she felt her heart's desire, and briefly wondered whether she should even care what others thought of her and Mary going out.

"There you guys are!" Junichi called as he and Rin walked over, both of them seem to be in a great mood, if their smiles were anything to go by.

Ib snapped out of her internal thoughts, and turned to them, "How was your movie?"

"It was hilarious," Junichi chuckled at just thinking about it.

"It was really heart-warming too," Rin smiled, "I wasn't expecting it to get so dramatic at the end."

"Me neither," Junichi turned to Mary and Ib, "How was your movie?"

"The first three fourths of it were really good," Ib claimed, "And then there's a twist near the end that just kinda ruined it for me."

"Oh?" Rin muttered, "What's the twist?"

"You learn that the person you thought was the protagonist the entire time actually stole the body of the person you thought was the antagonist." Ib explained, "If that was it, I would still dislike it, but not as much as I do now…"

"Ouch," Junichi muttered with a wince, "What could be worse than that?"

"I don't even want to remember it," Ib grumbled, "It was really sadistic and sad though, and that's all I'll say about it."

Mary nodded her head rapidly, "I completely agree!"

"What do you guys want to do now?" Junichi asked, changing the subject since they both wanted to forget about it, and he pulled out his cellphone, "It's just about three."

"Aren't you supposed to have this planned out?" Mary asked.

"Trust me, I tried to do that the first few times, but trying to time everything right is way too stressful. It's better to just go out and do what you want to do, isn't that what you and Ib do?" He asked curiously.

"Well, it's different for us." Mary declared.

"Oh?" Junichi let out, "Why's that?"

"Because we're both girls," Mary nodded her head, as if that was a good excuse.

"Right," Junichi rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Ib spoke up, "My sister can say stupid things sometimes."

"Don't worry about it," Junichi waved off Ib's concerns, "So, what do you guys want to do?"

Mary gave Ib an annoyed look, but said nothing, and instead decided to cheer, "Let's go shopping!"

"Oh crap…" Ib mumbled under her breath so no one could hear. Shopping with Mary was one of the worst things she could think of doing. She loved her sister to death – as a lover and as family – but this was one of those things where she'd rather go jump off a building than do. Mary knew this however, and thankfully she only took Ib along with her every once in a while.

"It'll be fun," Mary promised, turning to Ib, "It's been over a month!"

Ib sighed. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made to keep your lover happy, and if this was what she had to do to make Mary happy, so be it, "I'll go with you, it could be fun!"

Mary's enthusiasm and cheer was always a good reward for accepting to go though, and from the corner of her eye, she could see that Junichi seemed almost as equally resigned, agreeing to go shopping with his date. Mary and Rin took hold of their date's hand, and started to drag them throughout the city, initially just window shopping, and then going into the buildings they liked the best. Junichi and Ib at least didn't get nothing out of it, and they did get to see their dates dress up in a variety of clothes…

…That was entertaining for the first half hour of it, but slowly it became draining.

"I wonder if this is a level of hell," Ib muttered to Junichi as they sat waiting in chairs in a clothing store by a dressing room. Their dates were both currently in the dressing room together, and they could faintly hear them giggling as they changed with each other.

"What was that?" Junichi snapped out of his daze, and turned to look at her.

"I said I wonder if this is a level of hell – you know, the seven levels of hell?" Ib elaborated.

"I'm sorry; I'm not too familiar with Christian beliefs." He admitted. That was right, Ib realized, Junichi's family were Buddhist. It wasn't all that surprising that his family was unaware of it.

"Ah, it's nothing important," Ib decided to say, rather than bother to explain any of it to him.

"Hey, I've gotta question for you." He stated.

"What do you want to know?"

"You're a girl, right?"

Ib turned a pointed glare towards the boy sitting beside her, "What kind of idiotic question is that?"

"Ah! I mean, of course you are! So then, why don't you like shopping or clothes and stuff like that like they do?"

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I have to like that stuff," Ib answered, "That would be like me asking you why you can cook, why you aren't lazy a slob, and so on."

"I'm sorry," He remarked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I guess that was a really stupid question…"

"Now don't get it in your mind that I act like this only because I happen to like girls, or anything like that, ok?" She muttered, "My sister is more than enough to disprove that theory!"

"I wasn't thinking it, honest!"

Fortunately, before Junichi could stick his foot in his mouth by saying anything potentially worse, Mary and Rin stepped out of the changing room with a new set of clothes, giving a small twirl for their dates. Like usual, Ib and Junichi told them how cute and beautiful they looked in them, which seemed to satisfy the girls, and they went back into the changing room to the clothes they had on previously. They again wandered the clothing store, picking out some cute outfits. The process went on for at least another hour, and then an interesting request came.

"How about you pick out the clothes you want to see us in," Mary told them, "We'll wait here!"

"Anything?" Junichi asked.

"Anything's fine."

"Absolutely ANYTHING we bring you, you'll wear?" Ib asked.

Mary grinned widely, "I take it you have an idea of what you want me to wear?"

"M - Maybe," Ib nodded, "I just need you to confirm that you'll wear anything…"

"Fine," Mary nodded, "I'll wear anything you want me to."

"Rin? Does the same apply for you?" Ib asked the girl.

Rin seemed to be a bit more hesitant, but she nodded, "I guess that's fine."

"Excellent." Ib grinned, and took hold on Junichi's hand, and dragged him across the store.

"Where are we going?" Junichi asked.

"Come on, you're a boy, aren't you?" She asked, practically repeating his earlier question to him. She saw his blush creeping on his face, "I – I want to see Mary in a swim suit, since I'm forced to watch them change all day!" She blushed as she said that, and her heart rate increased as her imagination went wild, but she kept her excitement at bay as she and Junichi came to the swim suit section of the store.

"I – I feel like I shouldn't be here." He admitted, averting his eyes away from the racks of swimsuits hanging on the walls.

"Come on," Ib pleaded, "I – I'm kinda nervous too…"

"Where's that bravado from earlier?" He couldn't help but crack, and Ib gave him a halfhearted glare as she turned to look at him, thought he effect was lost with how red her face was becoming.

"Just pick one." Ib mumbled.

He turned to the racks, and his face was still red, but he did start to grin, and his eyes scanned the swimsuits that he could potentially make his girlfriend wear. He finally reached up, and picked up a small two piece that was fairly modest, but showed off a decent amount of skin.

"Hm, I figured you'd get something more revealing," Ib admitted.

"I would have, trust me," He assured her, "But Rin's still only fourteen…"

"But you're only fifteen," Ib pointed out, feeling confused.

"Yeah, I am," He acknowledged, "But it just feels wrong to make her wear something too skimpy you know? She can get pretty embarrassed, and I don't want her to get mad at me."

"I see…" Ib mumbled, realizing how different it must have been to date Rin. In her own relationship, Mary almost always made every decision for the two of them, and she was definitely the one who decided on things more often. Mary was very bold, and Ib knew the girl wouldn't be too opposed to wearing something skimpy – in fact, if Ib got to see it herself, the older girl would probably relish the chance to turn Ib on…

"So what are you going to pick?"

"I don't think Mary will mind if I pick something more revealing," Ib mumbled.

Junichi chuckled, "Yeah, I kind of get that vibe from her."

"Let's see… I need to make sure they are close to Mary's measurements…" she picked out a swimsuit, and looked at the size.

"You know your girlfriend's measurements?" He asked, his face flushing yet again.

"Of course," Ib answered, smiling smugly, "That's an advantage of being a girl, I suppose, and also an advantage of doing your sister's laundry." Ok, it was more of the latter than the former. She could distinctly recall when she was doing laundry, and she blushed as she looked at her sister's underwear and checked the sizes.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

Ib realized she had started to blush from the memory, and she looked away, "Ah! It's nothing!" She quickly shook her head, and looked down at the suit she was holding. Mary was very physically mature, so she would definitely put this suit to its full potential, she decided. It would leave little to the imagination, and it would show off as much skin as it could legally get away with. Junichi's eyes couldn't look away from the suit, and he glanced up at Ib, his mouth slack.

"Y – You're seriously going to make her wear _that_?" He asked.

"Yeah…" She muttered, as her heart raced at the mere thought.

She led the two of them back to where the changing rooms are, and she was satisfied with the blush that immediately hit Mary's face upon seeing the swim suit that Ib wanted her to wear. Rin was blushing quite a bit too, but it was clear that she was glad that Junichi had gone quite a bit more conservative with his choice, even though it too also showed off a lot of skin.

"I don't know," Rin mumbled.

"You said you would." Ib pointed out.

"There's no way I'm stepping out of the changing room with this on," Mary declared.

"H – Hey!" Ib protested, "You said-"

"I know," Mary put a finger to her mouth, "I didn't say you couldn't come in, though."

Ib's face heated up yet again, and she slowly nodded. Rin had made a similar proposition to Junichi, and both girls walked into separate changing rooms this time, closing the door to the rooms. Ib and Junichi both sat down in their respective chairs they had been in for over an hour, and tried to control their sweat as their imaginations ran wild.

Rin poked her head through her door, and Ib could see her exposed shoulder, but nothing more. Rin was blushing furiously, but she beckoned Junichi forward, and the boy didn't wait one second, he was far too eager to see her. Ib crossed her arms, feeling annoyed that he got to go see his girlfriend before she could, and she sat there for another two minutes, just waiting. Finally, she saw the door Mary had went into open, and the girl was blushing like mad.

"I – Ib…" Mary called.

"Y – Yeah?"

"You can come in…" Mary beckoned the girl forward, and Ib, like Junichi before her, didn't wait long, her excitement getting the better of her as she went towards the changing room.

When she got inside, Ib felt like she was hit by an unseen force, and nearly staggered back at the sight she saw. There was Mary, the blue eyed girl looking very nervous, her previously tied up blonde hair was down around her shoulders, and she was wearing the swim suit that Ib had picked for her. As expected, it showed off a lot of skin, and while the white swim suit covered her chest well enough – legally enough anyway – Ib doubted any girl would want to wear it regardless. The swim suit bottom was held together by spaghetti straps at the side, while enough cloth covered from the front and back, again, to be legal. Mary had one arm crossed over her chest, holding onto her other arm, and she averted her eyes as Ib scanned her up and down.

"Well?" Mary asked.

"You look amazing," Ib replied, blushing like mad.

Mary smiled, "It's really embarrassing to wear something like this."

"We used to take baths together all the time," Ib replied.

"We still do occasionally," Mary muttered.

"Exactly, s – so there's nothing to be embarrassed about, right?" Ib asked.

Mary looked down at Ib, and she giggled, "You're really a pervert, aren't you?"

"H – Hey! You said you'd wear anything I brought!"

"I know," She nodded, taking a step forward towards Ib, "I thought you'd be too shy to make me wear something like this though."

"Y – Yeah…" Ib nodded, "My heart is beating so fast right now…"

"Mine too," Mary admitted, "Do you mind if I kiss you?"

"No," Ib shook her head, "No one can see us in here."

"Good."

Mary brought her hand up to Ib's face, and gently tipped it up, and she watched as Ib closed her eyes, accustomed to doing it like this. The taller girl leaned down, and gently kissed her sister, and then parted soon after.

"C – Can we do it again?" Ib asked.

"Sure." Mary answered, and the process repeated once more.

"H – How about…" Ib was blushing furiously, and Mary could see that red covered her entire face, even her ears were bright red, "We keep doing that? For a little while longer?"

Mary was thrilled to oblige her lover's request, and she again leaned down, and began to tenderly kiss her sister on the lips once again.

XxXxXxX

Junichi and Rin were fortunately both as preoccupied as they were in the changing room, so they got out at roughly the same time, and continued with the date. It was nearly six thirty after all of that, so they decided to head out to dinner, and soon after that, the two couples parted way, Junichi walking Rin home, while Ib and Mary, being sisters as well as lovers, walked each other back to their own house.

"We're home!" Ib called out when she entered the house, taking her sandals off at the foyer and stepping onto the wooden floor, walking towards the kitchen. Mary took her high heels off and quietly followed behind, but the blonde hair girl's eyes were glinting with excitement, as if she knew something Ib didn't, but she amused her younger sister anyway by following her towards the kitchen. "Hello?" Ib called out once more.

They entered the kitchen, and Mary quickly ran to the kitchen table where she saw a note laying down, and she grinned as she turned around and showed it to Ib, "They're gone."

"Huh." Ib took the note, "They have dinner for us in the stove, and they won't be back until really late." She looked up to the stove top, where it claimed that the time was currently nine sharp, "I wonder how late they'll be gone for."

"Who cares?" Mary asked, "You know what this means?"

"What does this mean?" Ib turned her head towards Mary curiously.

The moment Ib turned her head however, her lips were assaulted by Mary's, the blonde hair girl had rushed towards her, and pushed both of them until they had hit the wall of the kitchen. Mary, being the taller of the two, was leaning down, relishing the taste and close contact with Ib. By the looks of things, Ib seemed to be enjoying it quite well too, since her eyes were closed, and she had wrapped her arms around Mary's body. Mary was rubbing her hands through her hair, and she caught the band Ib used to keep her hair in a ponytail, and quickly tore it off, allowing the girl's hair to cascade down her shoulders and back freely.

They parted with a trail of spit between their mouths, and Mary couldn't help but giggle, "We've never done this in the kitchen before!"

Ib's mind snapped back to reality, "Crap, you're right. We shouldn't be doing this here!"

"Oh come on," Mary rolled her eyes, "No one but us are home!"

"But what if they come home and see us doing this?" Ib asked, "How in the world could we explain to them about our relationship?"

"They're going to have to learn about it sometimes," Mary shrugged, "I'm totally fine with them knowing any time."

"They would flip out." Ib shook her head, "There's NO way we can tell them!"

Mary groaned, her body still pressed again Ib, and she eyed her smaller sister, "Would you resist me if I were to do it again?"

"Well, I -." Again Ib felt Mary lock lips with her, and again she felt her mind returning to that pleasant and well-loved hazy feeling. She closed her eyes yet again, but they shot open and she couldn't but gasp, breaking the kiss apart, and her head shot down to look at Mary's arm, that had begun to snake its way up her blouse.

"Mary!"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"I just want to feel all over you…"

"I don't know if we… should…" Her mind again went blank as Mary seem to just ignore her and continue kissing. The only reason she was resisting any of this at the moment was because they were in the kitchen, and she was afraid of what would happen if their parents were to suddenly walk in on this scene. Despite that, her heart was pumping in pure excitement, and it felt like her senses were beginning to heighten. The feeling of doing something that they shouldn't be doing excited her more than she wanted to admit.

"You seem to be really liking this." Mary observed as they again parted.

"C – Can we at least go lie down on the couch?" Ib mumbled, her legs were starting to shake, and it was getting harder and harder to force herself to stand up from the sensations she was feeling.

"That sounds fine." Mary grinned, and she parted away from Ib. Ib gasped for breath, and she still felt very warm, her face was completely flushed, and her legs felt like jelly. Despite that she did manage to keep in step behind Mary as they walked out in the hallway, and through the first left path from entering the house. This was the living room, where there was a couch, a large television set, and a chair gathered around the TV a fair distance away. Other than that there were a few bookshelves lining the walls, and a lamp here and there, at small tables near the chairs and couches. What made this room so much more exciting for Ib, was that there was a massive window that was where their driveway was.

"M - Maybe we should just go in my room?" Ib muttered.

"This is perfect!" Mary cheered, "Let's do this!"

Ib looked to Mary and saw how much lust was in the girl's eyes as she turned to look at her. Ib couldn't help but feel like a deer being trapped by a lion, as the lion licked its lips in hunger as it looked at her body. Ib shuddered as Mary advanced on her, and instead of pouncing her like she did in the kitchen, Mary gently pressed her body again into Ib's, and she guided them towards the couch, where they sat down and kissed like before.

Mary's hands began to trace the outline of Ib's body, started from her hips where she was wearing her jean shorts, going up and rubbing the smooth fabric of her blouse, and ending as she reached her shoulders. The sensation, much to Ib's embarrassment, caused her to moan in pleasure and giggle a few times as well, the light feathery touch was a pleasant touch, but it also tickled.

She was actually fine with this. Kissing her lover like this. She vaguely recalled a time when she had adamantly refused to accept that she was in love with Mary, and had tried to make up any justifications to prove that she wasn't. In the end however, it was actually _herself_ who had confessed to Mary! If she hadn't have confessed them, what would her life have been like? What would she be-

"Ah! Mary…" She let out an embarrassingly loud moan as Mary had cupped Ib's chest, the girl having undone the first few buttons of her button up blouse, revealing her cleavage and bra. Ib had been so deep in her pleasurable haze that she didn't even notice what Mary was doing. "What are you doing?" Ib asked, trying to stop feeling so much pleasure and excitement merely from touch.

"You like this, don't you?" Mary asked, her grin turning absolutely feral as she rubbed her younger sister's chest, and she saw Ib twitching.

"It's a new feeling…" Ib gasped out, feeling warmer than before.

"Let's try it out!" Mary huskily called out, leaning down and kissing her sister yet again. Ib this time couldn't even focus straight, the new sensation added in with Mary's expertise with her kissing was making her mind go blank. She would continue kissing Mary, but it would be interrupted a few times by a moan here and there, and she couldn't help but gasp for breath every few seconds. This only seemed to motivate Mary even more, and she continued to try and find ways to make Ib squirm with every bit of pleasure that she could.

After that it slowly got more and more heated, Mary making sure that Ib was ok with every step of the way. Halfway through the haze of pleasure, both girls slowly taking off each other's clothes, taking their love for one another to a new level. Both girls felt new sensations that they never felt before from the touch of their lover. They expressed their love for a while longer, and eventually the two of them lay next to each other, holding one another in a loving embrace, feeling very content to just snuggle with one another.

"How are you feeling?" Mary asked.

"Good…" Ib nodded, smiling fondly at her lover, "It felt amazing..."

"What time is it?" Mary mumbled, looking around at one of the nightstands by the couch, "It's almost ten o clock. We have school tomorrow, you know."

"We do…" Ib mumbled, not sounding like she particularly cared.

Mary wished that she could just lay there and continue to hold Ib, but she knew she had to get up and that they needed to go to their rooms, especially if their parents were coming home soon. So she let out a loud unpleased groan as she stood up and away from the warmth of her lover, and stood up, pulling her underwear back on and going to fetch her bra and blouse that she had carelessly thrown on the floor.

Ib finally felt her rational mind that was vacant during the act finally return to her, and she blinked a few times and sat up. Though she was still relishing the afterglow of what she just went through, she knew Mary was right, and she pulled her panties that were down her thighs back up, and then got up to put her shorts back on as well. She decided not to bother buttoning up her blouse again, and similarly Mary had decided not to put her blouse or cardigan back on, since they would be changing pretty soon.

"We need to get our pajamas, take a shower, and then go to bed," Ib listed off, glancing over at Mary, "And before you say it, NO, we are NOT going to take a shower together."

"Aw, why not?"

"Because I want to get things done. If you're in there nothing would get finished."

"Fine…" Mary mumbled.

With that the two girls went upstairs, and took a shower after one another. Mary had heeded Ib's words knowing that it was probably true, but she didn't have to like them. It was finally at ten forty-five that they were both done taking showers and they headed to bed in their respective rooms, their parents were surprisingly still not home, not that the girls minded at all. Ib entered her room, and went to lie down on her bed, and closed her eyes to sleep for the night, but opened them when she heard a knock on her door.

"Mary?"

Mary opened the door, and stepped inside, her green pajamas visible even in the darkness, "Hey."

"What do you want?" Ib asked kindly.

"I just wanted to sleep with you, since you offered it at the movie theater earlier today," Mary answered, and walked over to the bed, "Do you mind?"

Ib did offer it so she shook her head, "No, I don't mind." She lifted her blankets up.

Mary cheered and went to lay down next to her sister who had scooted over, and she wrapped her arms around her, "You know, I love you so much."

"I love you too." Ib answered, wrapping her own arms around her, snuggling into the warmth of her sister's body heat, cuddling closer than was probably strictly necessary. Mary didn't seem to mind, and soon the two of them had fallen asleep in each other's embrace.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

After debating about it internally for most of the day, I decided to remove the lemon from the end of this chapter. It's probably pretty obvious where it was supposed to go, and the implication of what happened are still present, as well as the aftermath, but the actual lemon was removed. This was due for a few reasons:

First of all, I'm not very confident of my erotic writing skills, and I didn't want to have some awkward IKEA sex scene. Secondly, it added absolutely NOTHING to the story. Third, it allowed me to lower the rating of the story to T, since I removed the primary reason I determined to make it rated M in the first place.

I still have the chapter with the lemon saved on my HDD, but the public version will always be the clean one. If you REALLY want to see the lemon (and my awful writing), you can always PM me, and I'll somehow get it to you. Cutting that shortened this chapter down 2,000 words too, though this is STILL the longest chapter so far without it.

Thank you all for reading!


	5. Memories

Memories

As the months went along, Mary and Ib continued to become more and more deeply in love than they were before. Whenever their parents weren't home now, they would go to one another's rooms, and express their love in its most primal form. Occasionally they would go out on dates with each other, and each time, Ib's barriers for what Mary could and couldn't do crumbled down more and more. She still was uncomfortable with kissing with a huge crowd nearby, but she was starting to become accustom to kissing in the parks or in movie theaters, or where there were generally few people. She was slowly learning that she didn't have to worry about what others thought of her love and preferences, and she should do what she wanted.

School for both girls was going well, with Ib joining the painting club in her school, which unfortunately meant that she and Mary saw each other a lot less during weekdays, since the club met four days out of the week after school. Much to Ib's delight, Rin had actually gotten accepted to the same school, and her underclassman had joined the same club as her. The two of them began to grow even closer than they were before, due to the near constant contact they now had with one another at their school.

One thing that annoyed Ib was that she barely grew, it was now six months after her sixtieth birthday, and she had only grown a half inch all that time, topping herself off at exactly five feet one inch. She knew that girls stopped growing earlier than boys, but she had hoped to get at least a little bit of a boost, so Mary wouldn't be quite so much taller than she was. She still continued to grow her hair out, and it nearly reached the top of her thigh now. Mary fortunately didn't grow at all in the year, and stayed at five feet eight inches, and she still kept her hair shoulder length. The taller girl adored Ib's small stature though, and would constantly tell her how cute she was.

It was late August, and Ib was in her room painting on her canvas like usual. Her well-worn and permanently paint-stained white shirt was on, and she wore some loose fitting sweat pants she didn't care about getting paint on, and she was currently bare foot. All along her walls were paintings she had made over the years, starting from when she was a child to present day, showing how much she had progressed over the years. After putting on a finishing touch to her current painting, she set down her brush, and crossed her arms.

"Why do I keep seeing this?" She wondered aloud to herself.

On her canvas was the painting of a blue rose, something she had become fairly intimately familiar with over the past few months in her dreams. They weren't always nightmares, but it was starting to get exhausting seeing it so often. What annoyed her though was that it gave her the same feeling that the yellow candy she had always kept tucked away in her bedside table drawer did, and she had no idea WHY.

"I hate these stupid thoughts." She grumbled to herself.

She let out a sigh and turned to her bedside table and opened up the drawer, pulling out the seven year old candy, and she examined it yet again, the feeling that she should remember something very important was again lurking in the back of her mind.

There was suddenly a knock on the door to her room.

"Come in, Mary." Ib called, still holding the candy, her eyes staring at it intently.

The older girl opened the door, and closed it behind her, and looked towards Ib, "How do you always know it's me?"

"Mom doesn't bother knocking, and dad never disturbs us in our rooms." Ib answered, her gaze averting from the candy to her sister, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Mary answered with a smile, and she walked over to look at the canvas that Ib had been working on, "A blue rose?"

Hearing Mary say that, for some reason, made her gasp out, and she gripped her head. The voice had matured a great deal, but it sounded vaguely like the voice of a child from her dreams. She blinked, feeling like she was on the cusp of remembering something very important, and she tightly screwed her eyes shut and tried to remember anything! She was so close she could practically taste it!

"Are you ok?" Mary asked out of concern.

"I'm fine," Ib answered, "Hearing you say 'blue rose' made me start to remember something…"

"Oh? Do you want me to list off other colors?" Mary grinned, and then she eyed the yellow candy wrapper that Ib was holding, "What's up with that?"

"It's a candy that I got back at Guertena's art museum way back when," Ib replied, holding it up so Mary could see.

"Ew, that's disgusting!"

"And back to your original suggestion: could you please list off colors?" Ib asked, smiling lightly at her sister, "It might trigger a memory or something."

"That's weird," Mary decided, but she shrugged, "Ok! I'll do as you ask!"

She stood in front of Ib, standing up straighter and she put a few strands of stray hair behind her ears, trying to look regal prior to saying anything. She giggled, unable to keep the act up, and Ib rolled her eyes, "Starting today would be nice," Ib grumbled.

"Stop being so grumpy!" Mary chided, "So… How about teal?"

"Teal?" Ib mumbled, thinking on it, "No. That doesn't bring up anything."

"Magenta?"

"Nothing."

"Hm…" Mary put her hand to her chin, "How about smalt?"

"What the heck is smalt?" Ib asked, looking at her sister in confusion, "Did you just make that up?"

"No!" Mary shook her head, "It's a really deep bluish color! I promise!"

"Well, it doesn't ring any bells," Ib sighed, "What next?"

"Zinnober!" Mary cheered.

"Ok, stop." Ib lifted her hand, "Discounting the fact whether that color is real or not, can you just list off NORMAL colors? Just colors off of the color wheel?"

"That's so boring," Mary grumbled.

"Yeah, but it's better than listing off nonsensical colors." Ib countered, "Could you please do this for me?"

"Fine," Mary sighed, "How about my favorite color, green!"

"Green… That… Yes, I think green was involved!" Ib looked up, her eyes were wide, "I'm so close to figuring this out!" She looked at her yellow candy, her drawing of a blue rose, and Mary saying the color green. She was so close again! She felt like if she didn't figure it out now, she would never be able to remember this! "Can you say more colors?"

"Um, your favorite color is red, right? So red!"

"There was a red rose…" Ib muttered, blinking rapidly and shaking her head a few times, "Roses! There was a red one… I remember that much!"

"And a blue one, if your painting is anything to go by," Mary replied quickly, pointing it out.

"Y – Yes!" Ib nodded, "There was a blue rose too!" She thought very hard, "The roses – the red one belonged to me, and the blue one… belonged…" Damnit! She couldn't remember!

"Do you want me to keep listing off colors?" Mary asked, as she stared down at her younger sister being particularly odd as she kept shaking her head as swinging her legs as she sat on her bed, she then started to hit her head with her knuckles as she tried to remember whatever it was.

"Please do!"

"Ok… So we got through red, blue, and green…" She listed off, "Orange?"

"No…" Ib groaned, "That's not bringing anything up."

"How about yellow?"

"No… Wait." She paused, "There was a third rose, and it was yellow, except this one was different. It… I think it was fake." She gritted her teeth, and then she remembered a little girl wearing green who had that rose, but the face was a blur, so she couldn't make out who it was.

"Keep it coming!" Ib announced.

"This is exciting!" Mary balled up her fists in front of her and she was smiling, "Maybe you have the secret location of some awesome treasure buried in your memory!"

"I doubt that," Ib chuckled, "Could you please say more colors?"

Mary sighed, "What ones haven't I said? Orange, yellow, red, green, blue – oh!" She smiled, "Purple! Does purple ring any bells?"

"Y – yes!" Ib announced eagerly, "It does! The owner of the blue rose! It was a – a tall man, and he had weird purple hair… And… His name was…" Her eyes widened, "Garry!"

"Garry?" Mary blinked a few times, "Now that sounds familiar…"

"Garry… He…" Her memory seemed to recover at the mere mention of his name, and she slowly began to remember.

She had been stuck in an art gallery when she was nine years old, but it wasn't just any gallery, it was an alternate world with all sorts of monsters. While there she had to solve all sorts of odd puzzles, and she met a man named Garry. The two hit it off really well, and he was very nice and funny, keeping her safe and making her feel better. Then they met Mary… Her adopted sister? No – Mary wasn't her sister, she was… a painting from the gallery… Mary killed Garry…

"Ib?" Mary gently tapped her on the head, "Are you ok?"

"M – Mary…" Ib whispered, "H – how could you?"

"What?" Mary recoiled in surprise, "How could I hit your head? I'm sorry; if it hurt I didn't mean to do it that hard! You were just worrying me!"

"No…" She looked up, and Mary saw tears beginning to fall from her sister's face, "Do you remember? Garry? Our friend?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember…" Mary looked to the side, "The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember who it is."

"You remember stealing my red rose?" Ib pressed on, "And you forced Garry to give you're his blue rose in exchange for my own, and then you tore his rose apart very slowly as we tried to chase after you…" Ib was quiet, feeling tears come down from her face, "I – I was so sad, and so angry…"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Mary mumbled, reaching forward and trying to place a comforting hand on Ib's shoulder, but the younger girl hit it away immediately, and Mary recoiled in surprise, "I – Ib?"

"I was so sad, because the rose was our life in there. If it gets destroyed, then the person dies."

"Wait." Mary lifted her palm up, stopping Ib, "You're saying that I ripped someone's rose apart… And since their rose is their life… You're saying I k – killed someone?"

Ib was silent.

"No!" Mary shook her head, "Y – You know me! I would never do that! I – I can't even imagine killing someone, I would be too weak and squeamish to do something so horrible like that, you know that! Please say that you believe me!" Mary practically shouted, her eyes threatening to spill tears too, "Don't tell me that you believe what you're remembering… Do you?"

"I don't know…" Ib admitted, looking up at Mary – her lover – and seeing both the girl who had killed Garry way back then, and the girl who she had grown to love over the past seven years. She shook her head, and looked down, "Mary, do you remember when you were adopted? When it happened? What it was like?"

"It was eight years ago, right?" Mary replied, "I remember being so happy that I was going to be adopted, and then I as even more happy that I was going to have a loving little sister too! Back then I didn't expect to fall in love with her, but I did expect us to be very close…"

"What was the orphanage you were at like?"

"It was…" Mary paused, and then she frowned, her watery eyes momentarily forgotten as she tried to recall the memory, "It was a big building, right? I – I remember having a lot of dolls to play with, and a really cool older sister that I barely remember…" She looked aside guiltily at that, "Maybe I should contact them to see how she is, now that I think about it."

"Don't bother," Ib shook her head, "It doesn't exist."

"What do you mean?" Mary asked, her hands beginning to shake.

"I don't know if I should tell you," Ib muttered, "You're a different person from the one back then."

Mary felt her heart beating very fast now. She so wanted to hug her sister, to prove that she wasn't a killer! She honestly would never hurt anyone, the thought alone made her feel sick to her stomach! How could Ib not believe her when it came to that?

"Ib," Mary spoke up, "Please… I don't know what's wrong, but please tell me you don't think I killed someone… I swear I would never do it! You know I would never lie to you, I love you."

Ib couldn't look her sister in the face. She knew the girl was sincere, and she realized that it would perhaps be best if Mary didn't remember it at all. She let out a sigh, and tried to smile, "I know you wouldn't hurt anyone."

Mary didn't seem convinced, if her tears were anything to go by, "W – why?"

"I'm sorry…" Ib muttered, looking down. Her feelings were so conflicted now. She remembered! She could recall Garry's destroyed and broken body, and she could remember confronting Mary afterward prior to coming back. She remembered all the hate and contempt she felt for the girl after she killed Garry – the disappointment probably being the strongest emotion. She had loved the girl like a sister in there, the girl who joyously traveled with them. If she hadn't have gone insane, perhaps the three of them could have found a way out together.

Now however, it was clear Mary didn't remember, and Ib _did _believe her when she said that she didn't like killing. That fit the character of the sister she had come to know over the past seven years – the one she had come to love. That didn't change the fact that she murdered Garry, but could she really hold it against the girl if she didn't remember, and since the Mary now and the Mary from the gallery were effectively very different people?

"Mary," Ib sighed, "I – I need time to think. Could you please leave?"

"I love you…" Mary repeated again, "Do you still love me?" She sounded almost desperate.

Ib had no idea what it felt like to be heartbroken due to something you couldn't recall doing, and she felt her own heart ache at how pained Mary looked, especially since the girl had been happily reciting colors to her just minutes before. She looked Mary in the eyes, "I love you, Mary." She confirmed, "But I just need time to think, that's all. I'm not dumping you, or anything." She smiled lightly, "And I don't think you're the one who killed Garry."

That was true. This Mary was much, MUCH different than the other one. This one was kind, loving, and helpful, whereas the one from the gallery was mean, hateful, and murderous.

"O – Ok…" Mary nodded, "Can I hug you before going?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, and she stood up and allowed her taller and more distressed sister to hug her. Ib shuddered in the grasp, feeling how much Mary loved her, but her mind kept making a connection between this Mary and the other Mary.

"Thank you…" Mary muttered, leaving the room, closing the door lightly behind her.

Ib sat on her bed, internally conflicted. She loved her sister so much, but then she now had the memories of her when she was a killer – she had escaped the painting, and had somehow become her sister, of all things! That would explain why her memories of Mary's adoption were so vague, it was because it never happened! Why did Mary have to kill Garry? She tried to remember the conversation she had with Mary way back when, but even having regained her memory of those times, it had been far too many years for her to remember the words that she and Mary had exchanged prior to her escaping.

Her thoughts fell to Garry – the man that had saved her life so much in that painting. How could she have forgotten about him? How could she have just left him there to die? She should have gone back for him! He was the one who gave her the candy she now held… He, most of all, didn't deserve the horrible death he got, laying all alone in the gallery…

"Crap…" Ib mumbled, feeling tears begin to fall.

She felt so guilty. She wished she had never remembered, that she could continue to live her life in blissful ignorance of this event in her life. She loved Mary, even now! But this obstacle would prove difficult for her to get over if she wanted to even look Mary in the face, though she couldn't hold it against the girl, since she didn't even remember the other world. She most of all, felt guilty for wanting to continue to be ignorant, because that would mean never remembering Garry ever again.

She didn't know what to do.

XxXxXxX

The next few weeks were hard for both girls, Mary in particular had a hard time of it. She watched as her sister slowly withdrew more and more into herself, and she would never look at Mary for more than a few seconds. Whatever the girl had remembered clearly made her hate her, and for that, Mary felt absolutely horrible. The two hadn't shared a kiss or even touched each other in weeks, not even holding hands. Mary's mood rapidly began to deteriorate, and she found herself bursting into tears practically every time she saw Ib walk away from her.

Her school work had begun to fall behind, due to her depression, and soon even Junichi, who occasionally ate lunch with her at their school, began to notice the change in her. They both went down to the cafeteria together; Junichi walking quietly beside her, and the two got their tray of food, and took their seats in the far corner of the very crowded cafeteria. Like she had been doing for the past few weeks, Mary started to pick at her food, not really eating it.

Another thing that she stopped doing was caring for herself very much. Her hair was unkempt, strands going every which way. Her eyes were obviously bloodshot, perhaps from not getting enough sleep. She wore a worn light green blouse, and a skirt that reached her knees. She had a lack of any make-up, making her look odd, but not too much so. Overall, it was clear to anyone who was Mary or Ib's friends that something was up.

Finally, Junichi had enough after watching Mary barely touch her food.

"Mary." Junichi whispered, "You've got to get over it."

"How?" Mary muttered, "She just dumped me one day for something I apparently did in the past that I don't remember…"

"I know it's hard," Junichi mumbled, "But… You know, there's a lotta other fish in the sea!"

Mary turned her flat gaze over to him, "I don't need to hear this right now."

"Ah – And – she didn't dump you." He reminded her, "Or rather, I don't remember you telling me that she went up to you and dumped you."

"She didn't say it aloud to me." Mary answered, "But it's clear that she doesn't want anything more to do with me. Whenever she looks at me, she just…" She felt tears prickle her eyes, "She just walks away, claiming that she has something else to do."

"Why don't you just corner her and force her to talk to you?" Junichi asked.

"I couldn't do that." Mary shook her head, "She probably would hate me more…"

Junichi let out a groan, "So what, you're just going to let her keep making you sad without even talking to her about it? Are you for real?"

"You want me to be blunt with her and make it so I hear from her own mouth that she hates me now?" Mary asked, glaring at her friend.

"That's not it at all, don't put words in my mouth," He glared at her, "It's clear that you're distressed, despite whatever you say." She gave him a tired look, and then her eyes focused back down at her food, "Mary, you need to talk to her about this, you can't keep going on like this…" He let out a sigh, "It's hard to watch you two do this to yourselves, Rin says that Ib isn't feeling much better."

"She isn't?" Mary asked, her gaze fixing on his, "What do you mean?"

"You didn't know?"

"No!" Mary shouted, causing several heads to swirl in their direction, and she quietly looked back down at her food with a blush, and then quietly spoke, "No. I didn't know she wasn't feeling very good."

Junichi groaned, "See? This is why you need to _talk_ to her! Ib still likes you, you know!"

"And how do you know that?" Mary asked.

"Why would she be hurting otherwise? Rin has been telling me how much she cries now in art club whenever they start to paint. Something about even looking at the color green makes the waterworks going." He groaned, "You know, your life would be so much simpler if you just talked to her."

"She cries?" Mary asked quietly.

"Yes."

"About me?"

"Well, you like to wear green a lot, and it _is_ your favorite color, so I think it's a safe bet."

"It can't be," Mary shook her head, "If she really does care about me, then why does she avoid me?"

"I don't know." Junichi shrugged, "But promise me you'll talk to her about it, ask her why she's avoiding you or something."

"I don't know if I can confront her…" Mary admitted, wiping her eyes.

"So you'd rather just stay miserable?" He asked.

She looked down, and bit her lip in worry, "What if… What if she tells me she never wants to see me again? What if she really hates me, and wishes that we never went out?"

Junichi threw up his hands, "I give up."

Mary giggled a little at that, "Already?"

"Telling a girl to do something that is common sense for a guy is apparently an effort in futility." He stated, "I swear, it almost seems like you like being miserable!"

"No," Mary shook her head, "We just think too much, whereas guys will just butt heads until something works."

"Oh?" Junichi let out, "Is that so?"

"It is," She nodded, "But… Maybe you're right. Maybe I should just try to take a blunt approach to this and confront her directly and get it over with."

"Thank you!" He cried.

"But… What if…"

"Look," He interrupted her, "If you keep thinking of every what-if scenario, you're going to scare yourself off again, and you won't do it. Just… Don't think about it, ok? I hate seeing you like this, I'm your friend, you know? I want to see you and Ib happy, just like Rin does, and I think you have the best chance at happiness if you just stop thinking of every worst possible outcome, and just confront her, and ask her what her deal is."

"I see." Mary nodded, and she smiled, "You're a good friend, even if you can be a little blunt, but maybe that's just because you're a boy."

"Thanks," He grumbled.

XxXxXxX

Ib sat in the back of her club room, painting on her canvas, her mind focused exclusively on her drawing. Unlike Mary, who had degraded over the month or so that Ib started to avoid her, Ib had decided to focus solely on her art, and for the most part, it worked very well. That would be until she used the color green, which reminded her so much of Mary, and made her feel incredibly guilty for what she was doing. To counter that, she made sure to remove green from her painting set, keeping it hidden from view so she wouldn't have to deal with it.

She sat next to Rin, both of them wearing their school uniforms, with Ib having her hair in a long ponytail to prevent it from getting in her eyes. Rin's blonde hair was partway down her back, the girl had decided to grow out her hair a bit, compared to Mary, who had hers trimmed.

"Ib," Rin spoke up from the back of the room, staying quiet so the other club members couldn't hear her, "How are you doing?"

Ib looked up from her canvas and smiled to her friend, "I think it's coming along nicely, don't you?"

Rin looked at the landscape Ib had been drawing, using primarily reds, oranges, and yellows to shows the leaves falling during the fall. The area the picture depicted was a small house with trees all around it. Rin noticed however, that the grass had yet to be filled in, due to the fact that Ib had a negative reaction to the color green as of the moment.

"I don't mean your painting," Rin sighed, "I mean, how are you doing with Mary?"

Rin watched as Ib looked down, her eyes focusing intently on the floor, and her hand holding the brush had started to shake slightly, "What do you mean?"

Rin sighed, "I haven't been talking to you about it, but… Junichi and I have been really worried, and he told me that I should talk to you about it."

"What?"

"Junichi says that Mary hasn't been doing too well lately, and that you guys got into a fight or something, and you're avoiding her." Rin explained.

Ib sighed, "Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"It's complicated." Ib evasively answered, "I learned something about her, and it just… I can't look at her anymore."

"So you hate her?"

"No," Ib shook her head, "She's my sister, I still love her."

"But as a lover – as your girlfriend – what about in that instance?" Rin pressed on.

"I…" Ib looked down, "I still love her, no matter what…"

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Like I said, it's complicated." Ib frowned, "Do you mind if I keep painting."

"So that's why you're focusing so hard on painting," Rin muttered, "You're trying not to think about it?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "So can I get back to it?"

Rin nodded, and Ib gave the girl a grateful smile before turning back and painting on her canvas, and Rin watched as the girl's saddened and worried look slowly turned to an almost mechanical one, as she started to paint, and it was then that Rin realized that her painting was a coping mechanism. Like she had assumed earlier, it was so she could escape from thinking about whatever horrible thing she had apparently learned about her sister.

Rin tried to focus on her own painting, but she eventually gave up, feeling too concerned for her friend, so she set her brush down again and turned to Ib once more, "Hey…"

"Hm?" Ib grunted as she continued to paint.

"Maybe you should talk to Mary, you know?"

"No." Ib shook her head, "I don't want to see her."

"Mary doesn't even know what she did wrong though," Rin pressed, "What you're doing to her is both really mean, and very unfair!"

"How do you know all of this?" Ib asked, turning a curious look at Rin.

"Junichi texted me today when he got out of school, he said he talked to Mary at lunch today, and that she told him that."

"Oh," Ib mumbled, going back to her painting.

"Mary thinks you hate her, you know, and Junichi told me that she actually failed her latest math test…" Rin shook her head, and gave Ib a very direct look, "You need to do something, or else she is going to fall apart."

"She failed her test?" Ib asked aloud, her eyes widening. She vaguely recalled dinner one night when her parents had asked Mary about her test, and Mary claimed that they haven't received it back yet… Was she lying there because she failed it? Was her avoiding Mary really doing that much damage to the poor girl? Of course it was… Ib knew it was. She knew how sensitive Mary could be, and she knew how badly it must hurt her older sister – the girl who always was kind to her, and loved her with all her heart, just like she had right back to her.

"Yes!" Rin nodded, "So you really need to stop avoiding her!"

"I – I can't…" Ib mumbled, her own heart aching as she thought about how much Mary must have been hurting, "I just…" She stopped, not saying anything else.

"What is it that she did that makes you not want to talk with her anymore?" Rin asked.

"I remembered something from the past," Ib finally admitted, "I… I saw her doing something that I can't forgive."

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"It's not something I should tell you," Ib mumbled, "It's very personal, but I promise you I'm not just ignoring and avoiding her because I want to be a bitch… It really hurts me to see her hurting so much, and I still do love her, and I always will! It's just that what she did was so horrible… I don't know if I can ever forgive her for it."

"It couldn't have been that bad," Rin muttered.

"It was."

"Even if it was, so what?" Rin asked, "You claim that you still love her, and I can see how hard you are taking not seeing her… why punish yourself like this. I don't think this is a case of you needing to forgive her, I think it's a case of you needing to forgive yourself."

"What does that mean?" Ib asked.

"Whatever she did, you must feel very guilty for it," Rin continued, "Not because you hate her for doing it, but because you _can_ forgive her for doing it, and in fact, you want to forgive her. There is something holding you back though, and I don't know what it is, especially if you're not going to tell me the details of what she did."

"Wait, I'm avoiding her because I can forgive her?" Ib asked, "What sense does that make?"

"Well, you admit to loving her, and you admit that you feel bad, but you still can't forgive her?" Rin shook her head, "One thing I learned in a relationship is that you must always forgive your partner for whatever he – or in your case – she does. Otherwise it would fall apart very quickly."

"There's a few exceptions to that though," Ib pointed out, "If your partner is cheating on you, I doubt you'd forgive that."

"Ok, you have a point," Rin acknowledged, "My point is: You feel guilty for another reason, and that's why you're avoiding Mary."

"Do I?" Ib mumbled, thinking about what Rin said.

She did love her sister – as a lover – but why would she not associate with her if that was the case? What was there to feel guilty for? Well… Now that Rin brought it up, Ib knew the answer immediately. She didn't avoid Mary because she couldn't forgive the girl, no… She was avoiding Mary because if she DID forgive her, then she'd be insulting Garry's memory.

"I see…" Ib mumbled, feeling tears coming to her eyes, "You're right…"

Rin smiled, "So you'll forgive her?"

"I – I can't… If I do that, then… Then I'll be letting her get away with… hurting Garry."

"Garry?" Rin repeated the name aloud.

"A friend of ours," Ib answered evasively.

"And she doesn't remember him?" Rin asked.

"That's right." Ib answered, "If… If I can get her to remember him, and make her acknowledge what she did was wrong though…" She thought hard about it, "If she can acknowledge that she did something wrong, then asks for forgiveness from him, then I can feel good enough to forgive her with a good conscious."

"How hard can that be?" Rin asked, smiling at Ib, who for the first time that day had some light returning to her eyes.

"I – I'm kind of scared though," Ib muttered. Did she really WANT Mary to remember how she was back then? Would that change Mary's personality to the way she was back then? No, it shouldn't, right? She had matured for seven years, and had loving parents, and Ib still loved her unconditionally, so hopefully she would stay the same.

"Why?"

"I wonder if it'll change her… If she remembers, will she still love me?"

Rin shrugged, "I don't know."

Ib sighed, her happiness and excitement quickly deflating, "I don't know what to do…"

"I think it'd be best if you just tell her." Rin answered.

"Yeah…" Ib muttered, "I – I guess I'll try that when I get home…"

She never thought she could feel this much dread from the mere thought of facing Mary, but there was a first for everything. She shook her head, and focused back on her painting again; deciding that worrying about it would do no good. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

XxXxXxX

Ib arrived home to see that Mary was in the living room, sitting on the couch with the TV turned on, but the girl was very subdued, and as Ib took her shoes off and walked into the living room, she saw that Mary's eyes were glazed over and she wasn't watching the TV at all, since she was so deep in her own thoughts it looked like. She noticed how bad the girl looked, and Ib felt horrible for ignoring her for so long. She briefly considered running away, but she steeled her resolve, and reached a hand towards her sister and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

She didn't expect Mary to jump at the physical contact, and fling her arms wildly around.

"Mary!" Ib shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Mary blinked a few times, "O – oh…" She noticed Ib, "S – sorry. You startled me."

"I'm sorry." Ib replied.

There was an awkward silence that hang in the air as Mary took her seat again, though her eyes were still glued to Ib's as she did so. Ib decided to take the seat beside Mary, but she kept some distance, making sure they avoided any skin contact. Ib saw that Mary had noticed the distance she put between them, and she saw her sister's eyes start to tear up.

"What do you want?" Mary asked roughly, trying to hide the fact that she was about to cry.

"Is mom or dad home?" Ib asked instead.

"No," Mary shook her head, "They left a while ago."

"I see." Ib mumbled.

"Is that all you wanted?" Mary asked.

Ib sighed, "Mary…"

"Yes?" Mary asked, her voice turning a bit hopeful as she turned to look at her sister, "Y – You're talking to me again."

"Yeah," She nodded, "Rin told me I should talk to you…"

"And Junichi told me the same," Mary giggled a little, "The two of them sure like to meddle in our business, don't they."

"They're just worried." Ib smiled, "They're good friends."

"Yeah…" Mary muttered, but she finally looked up, "I – I'm so sorry for what I did to you, I don't know what it is, but I am so sorry. I promise I will try to make it up to you – I still love you, and if you hate me, please just say it so I can get over this… I – I want to move on…" Tears started to stream down her face as she talked.

"I don't hate you," Ib mumbled, "Look, what I learned a month ago was really… shocking. I – I couldn't believe what I remembered about what happened."

"It relates to me, somehow." Mary remarked bitterly.

"It does… So I decided I'll tell you everything I can remember, to try and jog your memory. The reason I've been avoiding you is because I feel guilty about Garry…" She placed her hand over her heart, "Mary, I still love you, and I always will, but… I need you to understand why I feel this way, and I want you to apologize. I can't forgive you if you don't do that."

"I don't even know what I'm apologizing for though…"

"I know," Ib answered, "that's why I'm going to try and jog your memory."

"Now that you mention it, when I hear Garry, it rings some bells in the back of my head…" Mary admitted, "I wonder why that is…"

"Ok… Where to start…" Ib mumbled to herself, leaning forward and setting her elbows on her knees and she thought about what to do and say, "Well… Do you recognize the name Guertena?" Ib finally decided to ask.

"I…" Mary frowned, "It sounds vaguely familiar." She admitted, "He's… an artist, right? We went to his museum before?"

"That's right," Ib nodded, "I remember visiting his gallery when I was nine years old, before I had met you…"

"Wait, but I was adopted when you were eight!" Mary insisted.

"Just hear me out, ok?" Ib asked.

Mary didn't know how to react to Ib's weird behavior, so she simply nodded, "Ok. I'll let you talk."

"Thank you." Ib smiled, "While I was there, I found this really large painting called 'Fabricated World'." From the corner of her eye, she saw Mary react to that name, the girl's eyes widened, and she crossed her arms, as if trying to recall a distant memory, "After I looked at that painting, the world went dark, and I couldn't find anyone else. I got stuck in another world, where there were monsters of all kinds trying to kill me. And I had a rose while in there, and if my rose was completely destroyed – every last petal taken away – I would die."

"What?" Mary groaned, "You expect me to believe some sort of fairy tale?"

Ib turned to look at her sister and saw the disappointment crossing her sister's face, "I promise you, what I'm telling you is real."

"Fine…" Mary mumbled, though it was clear that the girl didn't believe her. Ib really hoped that she didn't think she was trying to make fun of her, it was far from that.

"While I was there, I ran into a very tall man named Garry. He wore this really weirdly torn up trench coat thing, and he had purple hair and matching eyes. We decided to travel together, until we ran into another person – a little girl wearing a green dress and she had bright blue eyes and blonde hair."

"Me." Mary muttered, "I – I can remember…" She paused, "Why does this sound so familiar? I remember you… Yes, I remember another girl had come and I was very excited to play…" She bit her bottom lip, "Where was this? Was this at the orphanage?"

"No, I told you, it was in an alternate world. It's where I first met you, within the Fabricated World." Ib explained, "That's not the end of the story though."

Mary looked sick, "I don't know why, but I feel like it'd be better if I didn't remember this…"

"I need you to!" Ib claimed, "I – I want to forgive you, I want to love you, but I need you to apologize to Garry!"

"I see…" Mary muttered, recalling how Ib had claimed she killed him a month ago, "So this Garry guy is the one I end up… killing?"

"Let me finish," Ib sighed, "The three of us traveled together, until we were separated from him. When he was alone, he learned something about you that made you attack us."

"What'd he learn?" Mary asked.

"Guertena created another painting that was never on display in the gallery – one of his finest creations… He painted a blonde haired girl, with blue eyes, and a green dress." She saw Mary's eyes widening, and her jaw went slack, "He named it Mary…"

"I – I remember now…" Mary mumbled, "I remember you guys coming into the world!" She looked up, "Finally someone came to play with me, and I could get out! I saw you, and I fell in love at first sight, and when you treated me so well and kindly, I wanted to be with you forever… I had to get rid of Garry! If I wanted to be happy with you forever, he had to d – die!"

"Mary?" Ib gasped out.

"Why'd you have to remember?" Mary asked, starting to cry, "I willingly made myself forget everything! Why'd you remember and then remind me about that time? I remember you saying you hated me as we got out! I didn't think killing Garry would make that kind of reaction!"

"Of course it would!" Ib cried, "Mary, you killed him in cold blood!"

"Back then do you think I cared?" She asked, "Ib, I wanted a friend so badly, and you even told me that if you had a choice between me and Garry, you'd pick me! I thought that meant you would be ok with it at the time."

"No, I wouldn't be…"

"Yeah, NOW I know that." Mary acknowledged, "I grew up, I learned more about the world, and I learned what was acceptable and not, and now… Now I know why you said that to me."

"So you'll apologize?" Ib asked, "I – I still love you Mary, I don't hate you, but I can't forgive you if you don't apologize."

"To Garry?" Mary shook her head, "I can't apologize to him, because that would be lying. I'm thankful he died…" She glared at Ib, "You still care for him more than me! If it weren't for him, everything would be ok! I'm glad I killed him!"

Mary wished she hadn't had let her emotions take over like that, but regaining all of her distress and anger from the memories, along with Ib_ still _wanting to help Garry sent her over the top. She could have worded it better, or said something else, but she had done probably the worst thing possible.

"I – Ib…" she mumbled, realizing what she said.

"No…" Ib shook her head, "I – I can't love someone who'd do something like that."

"What…?"

"I – I'm going to my room now." Ib stood up.

Mary just sat there, watching Ib run off into the hallway and stomping up the stairs. She turned back towards the TV that was still on, and felt tears coming. Why had she said that? It wasn't a lie that she was glad Garry was dead, but she could have explained why, instead of lashing out like that! Of course Ib still cared about Garry, the man, in Ib's eyes, had saved her life! Mary tried not to let her sobs be too loud as she covered her head.

"Ib, I wouldn't have destroyed your rose…" She whimpered, "I see why you liked and trusted Garry, but… He had to die if I were to escape and love you like this."

She wished she had never remembered her time in there.

XxXxXxX

It was now reaching late October, Mary's seventeenth birthday was only a day away, yet the day the girl had usually anticipated so much every year was tarnished by how badly her relationship with Ib had deteriorated. After their conversation three weeks earlier, Ib had continued to avoid her, and now instead of _just_ avoiding her, Ib would refuse to even acknowledge her existence when they were in the same room with one another. The younger girl refused to even say 'hi' in the morning when they saw each other.

Mary's heartache only grew worse and worse as the weeks dragged on since then, and she again failed a few more tests that she was assigned, since she didn't do the homework or even study anymore, her thoughts were so preoccupied with Ib and how much the girl probably hated her. That wasn't even mentioning how her mind started to wander to thoughts regarding Guertena's gallery, and her time spent in there – the many, many years she spent in there far outnumbered the amount of years she spent out in the real world, but she learned so much more in the seven years she spent here, growing up and being a real human, than she ever did in the other world.

And there was one thing she learned in the real world that she never could have learned in the other world: She was in the wrong, and she knew it.

Mary was now in her room lying down on her back in her bed, her eyes staring vacantly up at the ceiling, the thought that her birthday was coming up was almost inconsequential for the girl, since she was still feeling so depressed from everything that had happened. Her room was a mess as well, the usually clean room had clothes strewn all about the floor, carelessly abandoned as they continued to mope around, feeling too depressed to do anything. Her wallpaper was green, having been painted that color almost seven years ago, after she and Ib had returned from the gallery. The rest of her room had things most rooms would have in it, she had a dresser with the drawers open and clothes hanging from it, and she had a vanity set as well, though it had been practically untouched for the past two months or so.

She let out another sigh, and then nearly jumped when she felt her cell phone vibrating from her tableside table, causing the entire thing to shake. She looked over, and realized that someone was actually trying to call her, instead of text. She contemplated ignoring it, but eventually her curiosity won out, and she picked it up.

"Hello?" Mary asked upon picking it up, since she didn't look at the name when she answered.

"Hey, it's me, Aiko!" Aiko's voice was loud and clear on the other side, "I'm with Yuki right now! We both just arrived, and we just wanted to say hi!"

"Oh! Aiko and Yuki?" Mary didn't have to fake her excitement, "It has been forever since I last saw you guys! It's so good to hear from you again!"

"Well, we did call for another reason actually…" Aiko whispered.

"What's that?" Mary asked.

"I wanted to tell you tomorrow at your house, since you're going to have a party there, but I'm too excited!" Aiko gushed over the phone.

"What is it?" Mary asked again, her curiosity burning.

"After what you and Ib did, I talked to Yuki, and we've just started going out! It's kind of exciting, to go out with a girl I mean!" Aiko giggled, "I'm afraid, but with Yuki, I feel like I don't have to worry that much!"

"Oh," Mary mumbled, "Congratulations."

"Are you ok?" Aiko asked, "You sound kind of down in the dumps. I thought you'd be more excited about it…"

"I'm sorry," Mary immediately apologized, "But Me and Ib got into a fight, and we haven't really been talking that much…"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Aiko mumbled, "Yeah, I guess hearing about us is not going to make you feel any better…"

"It's ok," Mary claimed, "I'm really happy for you."

She heard some shuffling over the phone, "Thank you! And Yuki says that she wants to talk to you, are you ok with that?"

"I'm fine with it," Mary confirmed.

"All right, I'm handing it over to her, hold on…"

Mary heard the phone moving, the sound of wind blowing in it, before she heard it settle over Yuki's ear, "Hello, Mary."

"Hey." Mary greeted, "How are you doing?"

"Just fine." Yuki admitted, "Aiko tells me that you're having problems?"

"Yeah…" Mary mumbled.

"Perhaps I can help?" Yuki offered.

"There's really no need to do that." Mary replied.

"I want to do it," Yuki answered, "Will you allow me to help you?"

"I – I guess." Mary sighed, "I do need some help."

"Good." Yuki muttered, "Could you meet Aiko and me downtown? We're by the park right now. We can wait for you here."

Mary looked over to her room clock, it was currently five in the afternoon, a few hours after school. Ib was still at her painting club, so if she did go out of her room, she wouldn't run into the girl. She bit her lip, and finally let out a sigh, "I – I guess I could. I need to get out anyway."

"Good." Yuki answered, "Meet us here in about a half hour, we'll be waiting."

"Yeah, ok." Mary nodded, and she turned her phone off, and slid her legs off of her bed to the side, where she sat up and stretched. She stood and looked in her mirror, and frowned when she saw how horrible she looked. If she was going to meet with friends she hadn't seen in about two years, she should at least look presentable. She quickly grabbed a comb and got all the knots out of her hair and made it look straight – she wanted to use her straightening iron on it, but decided that she didn't have enough time to do so. She did decide to put on some make-up, particularly under her eyes to hide the bags that had accumulated there from a lack of sleep. With that done, she smiled at her reflection, marveling at how much better she looked if she just hid away her pain. With that, she took off her current ragged clothes, and threw on a blouse and a modest skirt that reach down to her knees, and some socks, since it was getting cold. She threw on a light jacket, grabbed her purse, and went out of her room.

Once she was out of the house, she actually let out a loud sigh, feeling as if the oppressive atmosphere had lifted from all around her. She was still down, but she already felt better, since she left the place where she'd inevitably see her girlfriend wandering around. Letting out a sigh, she walked down the sidewalk to the end of the neighborhood, and boarded the bus, headed directly into town. The ride itself lasted only a little while, and soon it was pulling into the city, and she got off when it was near the park. She was thankful that she wore shoes, since it was actually pretty cold, though she chided herself for wearing a skirt in October! That was a stupid move.

"No use for regretting it now," She sighed, patting down her garment, and stepping into the park that Yuki had specified. It didn't take her very long, Yuki and Aiko were sitting on a bench near the entrance, and since it was nearing late October, not a lot of people were out because it was getting pretty cold.

"Hey!" Aiko stood up and started to wave her hand very dramatically over her head, "Over here!"

"I see you," Mary giggled at her friend's antics, and made her way over.

Aiko was bundled up more smartly than she was, wearing an actual coat and some jeans. In addition to that, the girl had her hair done up into two pigtails, and like before, Aiko's huge and bright smile was very hard to miss. Mary didn't realize how much she had missed the girl, and she felt herself leaning forward to give her a hug.

"I missed you a lot!" Mary exclaimed, finally pulling away after a few seconds, "It has been almost two years!"

"Yeah," Aiko nodded, "fortunately I moved close to where Yuki lived, and we started to meet with each other after a while."

"Oh?" Mary grinned over to Yuki. The purple haired girl still kept her hair short to her ears, and she still wore large glasses, but she could see a few differences. Yuki used to be pretty stoic and never really showing emotion, but now she was smiling noticeably. She was also surprisingly wearing a little jewelry, with an earring hanging from both ears, and she had light make-up on – eye liner, and lipstick primarily. In addition to that, she was smart like Aiko, wearing a coat and jeans to cover up for the cold.

"We did," Yuki agreed, "Then she admitted her feelings to me, and, as they say, the rest is history."

"So are you guys only out here for my birthday then?" Mary asked, "I can't see you guys skipping school for something like that!"

"My school is out for this week!" Aiko cheered.

"And I've gotten all the homework from my professors for the week," Yuki assured her, "I felt like it has been far too long since I've seen my little minions."

"Hey!" Aiko and Mary cried at the same time.

Yuki to Mary's absolute shock began to giggle a bit. She must have seen Mary's expression, because Yuki started to cover her mouth and laugh even harder at the same time.

"Are you sure you're the same person?" Mary asked.

"I've influenced her!" Aiko cheered, "Trust me, it's for the best!"

Yuki nodded, "I agree, I do quite enjoy being around you."

Mary felt both very happy and very sad. Happy that her friends started going out, and Aiko finally got together with Yuki, but sad because it reminded her of how she and Ib were currently estranged from each other. It must have shown on her face, because both Yuki and Aiko stopped smiling when they looked at her. She reached up, and realized that she had unknowingly started to cry a little, so she quickly wiped the tears away, trying not to mess up her make-up.

"I'm sorry!" Mary apologized, "I didn't expect to do that!"

"It's ok," Yuki replied softly, "That is what we wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"Rin and Junichi told us about what has been going on with you and Ib," Aiko answered Mary's querying look, "They said that you two started this whole thing not even two months ago!"

"Yeah," Mary muttered softly, feeling annoyed that her friends would tell others about the situation. Granted, they just told their _other_ friends, but it was still very annoying.

"I decided to see if I can help by talking to you." Yuki announced her intentions, and sat down on the bench, motioning Mary to do the same. She did so, and again felt foolish for wearing a skirt, since it was getting pretty cold. Aiko sat to her left, while Yuki stayed on her right, and she noticed that both girls got in slightly closer than normal, and she realized that they must have known that she was getting cold, so they decided to try their best to warm her up.

She smiled at her friends, "Thank you."

"No problem!" Aiko answered, reaching over and patting Mary on the shoulder, "So can you tell us about what is going on then?"

Mary sighed, "I don't know…"

On one hand, telling them would help her get it off her chest and they could give her advice on what to do. She could also let others know about the alternate world and how much it played into her development as a person. On the other hand, she didn't want people to think she was crazy, nor did she necessarily want the other world to become public knowledge. Still…

"It's all right if you tell us!" Aiko claimed, "We promise not to tell a living soul!"

"You'll tell no one?" Mary asked.

"No one at all." Yuki confirmed.

"F – Fine." Mary mumbled, "Well, would you guys believe me if I told you that I wasn't really human? About seven years ago, I mean, not now. I'm clearly a human now." Crap, she was already fumbling the ball, and the game had barely just started!

"No." Aiko and Yuki both replied at the same time.

"Yeah, well, try to imagine that once upon a time ago, nine years ago, I wasn't human. I was a painting in Guertena's art exhibit. I was his last work before he died." She looked over to gauge their reactions. Aiko was clearly disbelieving, but Yuki looked only thoughtful.

"Continue." Yuki finally stated.

"She – or rather, I was a painting, which lived in this alternate world. There was no sunlight, or any lights for that matter. It was always very dark, but light enough to see. Inside this other world were other paintings and models of Guertena's past work, all of them living and wandering around this alternate world – this alternate gallery, the Fabricated World." Mary let out a breath, and then continued, "None of the paintings could get out into the real world, with one exception."

"Yourself, I presume?" Yuki asked.

"Exactly." Mary nodded, "Except there was a rule that I had to follow in order to escape. In order for me to get out, someone had to stay inside to take my place as a painting."

"This doesn't sound very happy…" Aiko mumbled.

"It's not," Mary muttered, "I hated it in there. I mean, back then I liked it because it was all I knew, but now that I look back…" She shuddered, "I'm very glad that I'm out here now, where I can go outside, where I can finally grow up."

"You were always a kid?" Yuki asked.

"For decades I was nine years old," Mary confirmed, "And I was kind of a brat, too."

"Aren't most nine year olds?" Aiko mumbled.

"Anyway," Mary sighed, "I stayed in there, and finally, for the first time in my life, two people from this world visited our Fabricated World, those two people were Garry and Ib. I set off immediately upon learning this to go see them for myself, and I talked with them and traveled around with them, helping them with puzzles and growing very… fond… of Ib."

"What about Garry?" Aiko hesitantly asked.

"I didn't like Garry at all," Mary shook her head, "In retrospect, I agree that he was doing the right thing the entire time, but I always viewed it as an act against me. For instance, he would warn me not to mess with my rose, because it was my life, but I just viewed it as him trying to blow my secret, despite the fact that there was no possible way for him to know it at that time!"

"Rose?" Yuki questioned.

"Ah, sorry. If a person from the real world gets dragged in, they have a rose that represents their life. If it's destroyed, they die, and vice versa – if they are hit, the rose is damaged. If one were to take the rose away and pluck all of the petals off for instance…" Mary left it hanging.

"That's really creepy." Aiko grumbled, "Why would someone make it so a rose is all that keeps you alive?"

"I don't know," Mary admitted, "I lived there and I didn't really understand the rules of the place either. Even looking back on it with my more mature mind and outlook, I still can't figure out what the purpose of it was."

"How does this relate to Ib disliking you?" Yuki asked.

Mary sighed, "Like I said earlier, one of them had to stay behind so I could get out. I decided that since I liked Ib more, and I didn't like Garry at all, I would leave Garry in there and go out with Ib. I stupidly thought that Ib would be all right with it, I thought she would be fine seeing Garry die in front of her." She shook her head, "Stupid. I was so stupid!"

"You killed Garry?" Yuki calmly asked.

"Yes. I stole Ib's rose, and I offered an exchange, Ib's rose for Garry's blue rose." Mary covered her eyes as she leaned forward, "Garry… As much as I disliked him, he surprised me, when he agreed to it with no hesitation at all. He gave me his rose, and I ran off and destroyed it. After that, I waited for Ib by the exit to the world, and she came, but she was really mad, and told me that she hated me and wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I forced myself to forget about the world as I came here, and Ib forgot too… That was, she forgot until a few months ago, when I jogged her memory."

"So she is mad at you for killing Garry?" Aiko muttered.

"Yes, I suppose she is." Mary nodded, "She said she wanted me to apologize to him, but I couldn't do that, because I'm not sorry… Isn't that horrible of me? I killed someone so they could stay behind, and I can't even apologize for it…"

"Have you explained to her _why_ you did it? Why you're not apologetic?" Yuki asked.

"I – I…" She paused. Come to think of it… No, she hadn't told Ib. She just snapped at the girl, and nothing else, "No… I just got angry at her, because she _still_ liked Garry over me all this time, and that's it, we stopped talking."

Yuki looked into the distance, "I'm going to tell you a few things, Mary."

"Ok…"

"I don't know if this Fabricated World is real or not, whether it is, is not important. What is important is that you and Ib apparently believe in this world. Mary, I can assure you that Ib adores you, and she always will. The way she looked at you when you were in my club clearly confirms that, I really doubt that even remembering this man that she was in this world with for perhaps a day, will change that. Not to mention, whether Ib likes to admit it or not, she's _is _a lesbian – why would she suddenly love Garry by remembering him? Furthermore, why do _you_ think she likes him more than you? Did she say that to you at all, or even imply it? Or is it just your imagination making up wild accusations and making you out to be an idiot?"

"No… I guess she never said that, she just wanted me to apologize, so I assumed…" She stopped talking, knowing that Yuki was right.

"Now onto my second point: you claim that you can't apologize about what you've done, or that if you did do it, it'd be insincere. Does Ib even know that you would have been stuck in that other world if you hadn't have had Garry take your place? Did she know that you had spent decades in there stuck as a nine year old girl, with no friends, no sunlight, no way to essentially mature so you'd know what is right or wrong, or how people would react to things you do?" Yuki shook her head, "Mary, Ib is a very reasonable girl. She was one of the most mature people I've had the pleasure to meet, and I know that if she did know these things, she would not simply toss it aside an unimportant."

"I see." Mary muttered.

"Do you?" Yuki challenged, "I suggest you try to amend your mistake."

Aiko raised her eyebrows at how forceful Yuki was being, but said nothing.

"I guess you're right," Mary sighed, "I – I know I'm in the wrong, and I didn't tell her, but… It's going to be hard to confront her when she avoids me all the time."

"You're making an excuse to not talk to her," Yuki pointed out.

Mary gritted her teeth, "Yeah, I know… It's just hard."

"Do it tomorrow, during your birthday." Yuki advised, "I know Ib might not be very fond of you right now, but if you confront her on your birthday, I think she will listen to you."

"I – I'll do that." Mary nodded, "I – I'm still shaking though…" Mary chuckled nervously.

"We'll be there if you need moral support!" Aiko claimed, patting her on the back, "Tell her all about this Fabric world or whatever, and then it'll be all right!"

Yuki nodded, "I concur."

"Ok, I'll do that." Mary acknowledged, "With you guys, Rin, and Junichi there, I think I can do it… hopefully."

"Don't worry, we'll all support you!" Aiko grinned.

Mary nodded, "Thank you."

XxXxXxX

Notes:

My writing isn't the best here, I fully acknowledge this. I was starting to get tired of writing this at this point, so if this chapter seems rushed, that's why. Also, next chapter is the last one, so look forward to that!

Thanks for reading!


	6. Our Love

Our Love

Mary stood in her room, more nervous than she had been in all her life. Rin and Junichi had both already arrived, and she didn't know what to even wear yet, or how she was going to approach Ib. At least Ib had been kind enough that morning to congratulate her for her seventeenth birthday, but that was still not a very good opening, and Mary had just meekly thanked her, since she was still too nervous to confront her about what they had talked about a few weeks ago.

She shoved Ib out of her mind for now, and finally decided upon a dress to wear. It was a green dress that exposed one shoulder and went down to her knees, and it had a belt that went around her waist. She decided to wear heels again, since it was a special occasion, and she made her hair into a nice bun on the back of her head, using a few chopsticks to hold the hair in place. With that done, she put on some make-up, and made sure she looked fine in the mirror. Deeming that she didn't look too bad, she walked out the door and headed downstairs.

Mary went downstairs, and saw Junichi was also pretty well dressed, wearing a button up shirt and some khaki pants. Off to the side, she noticed that Rin was talking to Ib over by the way to the kitchen. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she caught Ib's eye, and looked away, feeling her face flush. She looked back to Junichi, who was grinning as he watched her.

"Nervous?" He couldn't help but ask.

"A little," Mary grumbled, "I don't know if I can face her."

"Don't worry; it'll go fine, right?" Junichi assured her, "Just talk to her and it'll all work out."

"Easy for you to say..." Mary grumbled.

"Happy birthday too," He added, "I hope it'll all turn out well though, seriously."

Mary smiled at his sincerity, "Thank you. I hope so too."

The door rang, and Yuki and Aiko both arrived, both also well dressed, in their own dresses. Aiko again had her hair up into two pig tails, and Yuki had her glasses off, wearing contacts. Mary and Junichi had walked to the front door, and allowed them in, and both girls politely took their shoes off at the foyer before stepping into the house proper.

"Junichi!" Aiko cried, seeing the boy, and she went over and hugged him, "I missed you!"

Junichi gasped for breath, and parted, "Y – yeah…" he coughed, "Nice to see you too."

"Yuki," Mary walked over to the girl, looking down at her, "How are you?"

"I'm doing very well." Yuki claimed, "Have you talked to Ib yet?"

"No," Mary shook her head, looking aside, "I'm a bit nervous."

Yuki let out a sigh, "Fair enough."

The four of them went into the living room, and Mary was thankful that her parents were generally staying out of the way. In the living room the six friends gathered together, where Yuki and Aiko started to make their exciting announcement to the rest of their friends, who Mary realized weren't in on the fact that Yuki and Aiko had gotten together. She watched as the genuine surprise passed everyone's face, and in particular, she noticed Ib's reaction.

Ib blinked a few times, and a frown crossed her face, and her eyes looked elsewhere, but she did mumble out, "Congratulations."

"Thank you!" Aiko hugged all of them over again, and while she was holding Ib, she whispered into the girl's ear, "It's because of you that it happened."

Ib nodded, and a warm smile crossed her face as she and Aiko parted. At least she could feel happy for her friends if nothing else. "I'm going to the bathroom for a moment," Ib decided, feeling a prickle at her eyes, and realizing that she might actually start to cry in front of her friends. She turned around, and took her leave.

"Hey," Yuki looked to Mary, "You should go now. You know where she'll be, and you'll have her cornered."

"Yeah." Aiko nodded.

"Go for it!" Junichi agreed.

"Good luck!" Rin wished the girl.

"You're ALL in on this?" Mary felt her jaw drop, "seriously?"

"Hey," Junichi shrugged, "It hurts us to see you two acting like this. The sooner you two make up, the sooner everyone involved will be happy."

"Plus," Rin spoke up, "You saw how she reacted to the news about Aiko and Yuki – congratulations, by the way – so it's clear that she feels regret and has feelings for you!"

"Fine…" Mary sighed, though she was smiling, "You guys are quite a handful."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Aiko waved it off, "Now go be princess charming for your princess."

"I'll do that," Mary muttered dryly, and started to walk away.

As she walked off, she could hear Junichi exclaim behind her, "Yuki and Aiko? Holy crap! Congratulations…"

The sound went off as she went into the hall, and up the stairs, figuring that Ib had gone to the upstairs bathroom, since it was further away from the party. She went up the stairs, and went to the bathroom door, and she could hear the faint sound of sniffling coming from the other side of the door, and she felt her heart beginning to flutter. Could she really do this? Would Ib even bother to believe her? She allowed the thoughts to run rampart in her head for a few seconds, but she forced them to stop. She HAD to do it, if she didn't Ib certainly wouldn't, with how passive the girl usually was, she would probably just let things continue to deteriorate, not that Mary was doing a better job of it…

"Pull yourself to together!" She grumbled to herself, slapping her face a few times.

"Is someone there?" She heard Ib call, and Mary wanted to cuss.

"Um…" Mary hesitantly called, "Hello."

"Hi." Ib said nothing more.

"Hey… You ran off so quickly, I came to see if something was wrong…"

"No. Nothing's wrong. I just had to go to the bathroom." Ib lied.

Mary frowned, "L – look, Ib, I know you're lying…"

"What do you want?" She could hear Ib's sigh from where she stood.

"I want to talk." Mary admitted.

"Now?" Ib wondered.

"Yes. Now."

"Then…" There was silence for a few seconds, and then she heard a loud sigh, "Fine. I guess we can talk to each other."

Ib opened the door, and Mary noticed immediately that the girl had been crying. Her eyes were a little puffy, and it was obvious where tears had been going down her face. She felt almost overjoyed, to know that seeing Yuki and Aiko had produced this kind of reaction out of her younger sister, and she tried not to let that joy show on her face, knowing that Ib would most likely misinterpret it.

"Let's go into my room…" Ib muttered, "Are our friends ok being alone?"

"They're the ones who pushed me to talk to you." Mary admitted.

"I see…" Ib mumbled.

Mary followed the subdued Ib into her room, and watched as the girl sat down on her bed. Ib had dressed up quite nicely for the party, she had on a red dress that Mary couldn't help but appreciate, since it accentuated Ib's curves quite well, and it ended just above her knee. She was wearing heels as well, since the girl had decided after a couple dates that she would learn to walk in them, which she had mastered quite well since then. Her hair was as usual tied back into her favorite ponytail, and Mary momentarily wondered how much of a pain it must have been to manage that much hair, since it reached down to her thighs while stand, and was at the moment pooled onto her bed as she sat down on it. Mary shook her head, trying not to stare at Ib's eyes, and she sat down beside her sister.

"So… What do you want to talk about?" Ib asked.

The fact that Ib was so willing to talk to her was a fantastic sign actually, and Mary felt like just getting up and cheering right there, but she again held in her impulse, and she just looked to her sister with an impassive expression, "I – I wanted to explain some things to you."

"About what?"

"About Garry," Mary sighed, "Look…"

"What's there to talk about?" Ib muttered, "You killed him…"

"I – I know I did." Mary admitted, "And I know I said I wouldn't apologize…"

"So why are you wasting my time then?" Ib asked harshly, her eyes narrowing forward at her canvas beside her bed, since she refused to look at Mary.

"I need to explain my reasons." Mary let out, feeling flustered since Ib was rushing her, "I – I know it's wrong, but I'm not apologetic."

"Then I'm going." Ib stood up, but Mary grabbed her wrist before she could go. Ib stood still, not trying to break out of the grasp Mary had. She instead turned her red eyes to stare right at Mary's blue eyes, "What do you want?"

Mary gritted her teeth, and she roughly pulled Ib forward. The girl wasn't expecting that, and she stumbled in her heels right into Mary, and both of them landed on her bed. Mary growled as she wrapped her arms around her sister for the first time in over a month, and she started to say, "Stop being rude and let me talk! I'll let you go if you agree not to leave until I'm done telling you my story, deal?"

"… Fine." Ib mumbled, though she seemed a bit reluctant to get off when Mary let go of her. She eventually got up, and sat back down next to Mary.

"Sorry about that," Mary blushed a little bit, "You kinda made me mad."

"It's ok," Ib mumbled.

Mary rubbed down her dress that had gotten a little ruffled from what she just did, and she finally looked back up to Ib, and sighed, "I'm a painting, you knew that much from Garry, right?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, "Though you're human now."

"Now I am," Mary agreed, "But at the time, since I was a painting, I couldn't grow up, you know. In that other world, I couldn't go outside, all my friends amounted to monsters. I longed to have another girl like me to play around with, to talk to about things." She chuckled, "Back then, I had assumed I was going to talk to her about boys when I got older, I didn't realize that I would actually fall in love with the girl."

Ib smiled slightly too, "Ok, I get the picture, but why is this important?"

"It's because you don't know the main fact about that other world – about me." She turned to look at Ib right in the eyes, "The reason I'm not sorry for killing Garry, the entire reason for me doing that at all, was because I wanted to get out of that world too. I wanted to be with you."

"What?"

"In order for me to get out, either you or Garry had to stay in. There were no exceptions. That is how it went." She looked to the floor now, "That's why I killed him. There was no way I was going to kill you!"

"Then why'd you take my rose?"

"I did it to get Garry's rose."

"So if Garry hadn't have given you his rose, then what?"

"I don't know, I would have jumped at him and tried to stab him, or something." Mary shrugged glancing to the side, feeling a bit uncomfortable with admitting that her younger self probably would have done something like that, "The point is, I wouldn't have killed you. I adored you too much back then to even think of trying to hurt you."

"You know killing Garry hurt me quite a bit," Ib mumbled, "I felt so sad that he was gone… I felt betrayed by you. I couldn't believe that you would kill my – our – friend like that."

"I know…" Mary mumbled, "I – I really wish I had told you guys about my situation. Maybe we could have found another way out or something, but I honestly can't apologize, because I'm not sorry he died… If he didn't die, I wouldn't be out here; you wouldn't be my lover – or ex-lover, whatever… I wouldn't have gotten to experience this whole life!" She waved her arms around the room, "I – I know it's really selfish! It's incredibly selfish, I know, but… Given the alternative, I didn't really have a choice, especially since you guys would have just left me behind, after you learned I was a painting."

"Mary…" Ib mumbled, "I don't think…" She paused, "We…"

"See? You admit as much. You would have left me, given the chance."

Ib couldn't deny it. She and Garry knew that Mary was a painting, and they _had_ been trying to leave – to escape from Mary. The poor girl had grown so desperate that she resorted to chasing them around. Ib looked to the ground, "I'm sorry, Mary…"

"It's nothing to apologize for. After all, I wasn't real back then, and I was chasing after you, trying to kill Garry near the end there, so I know why you were afraid of me and running away." She looked over to Ib again, "So now you know, that's why I couldn't apologize, or if I did, it would be insincere, and I wouldn't want to do that. I'm sorry for snapping at you too, about how you liked Garry more than me. I was still emotional from getting back all my memories, and I yelled out the first stupid thing I could think of to try and hurt you."

"I see…" Ib mumbled.

"So… That's my story. I regret Garry had to die, I suppose, but I'm not sorry for killing him."

"In that case, given your circumstances," Ib looked over to Mary too, "I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to apologize."

"Thank you." Mary mumbled.

"There's one thing you said that is wrong though," Ib continued.

"What?" Mary furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"You called me your ex-lover."

"Wait…" Mary's eyes widened, "Then…?"

"I still regret that Garry died too, and I'm so sorry that he died, but honestly… I'm happy with you too, and I want to be selfish just this once." Ib explained, "I – I think we should go to his picture in the gallery, and thank him for our lives now, but… For now…"

"For now?"

"Kiss me." Ib muttered.

Mary couldn't believe what she heard, bur she obliged her sister's request immediately, practically pouncing on the other girl. Both girls threw their heels off onto the floor, as they pressed their bodies against one another, their lips were almost one as they passionately kissed for the first time in nearly two months. It was a minute later that they parted, both gasping for breath, that Mary noticed that tears were coming down from her eyes and landing on Ib's cheeks, and she noticed that Ib too was crying.

"I'm so happy." Mary admitted, "Thank you so much for listening to me."

"I'm happy too," Ib agreed, "The entire time, I was hurting so badly. I wanted to feel your touch, and I wanted to kiss you so much."

"I was so sick feeling for the past few months that I've been neglecting my homework."

"Me too," Ib grumbled, "Other than my art, I stopped focusing on everything else…"

"We have a lot of make-up to do then," Mary muttered.

"Not just homework either – we haven't done anything together in two months." Ib huskily whispered into Mary's ear.

Mary felt herself growing warmer, "I really wish we could do it right now," Mary mumbled, rubbing Ib's body through her dress, enjoying how the girl would squirm under her touch, "But… Our friends are here."

"Ten minutes." Ib stated, looking to the clock.

Mary giggled, "Someone's rather forceful today."

Ib groaned, and took hold of one of Mary's hands and placed it on her chest, "I haven't done this for two months. I need it."

Mary started to massage her sister's chest, and she felt even warmer as her sister started to moan a bit from her touch now, "Well… If you put it that way, I guess I can't refuse…"

The two ended up taking nearly a half hour in Ib's room, and they realized that they had to change their clothes, since their dresses were now a quite ragged, not to mention how sweaty they got in them. Ib threw off her red dress and just put on a simple blouse, and some tight jeans, and she used a towel to wipe away her make-up, which was ruined. Mary had likewise wiped away her make-up (but reapplied some, unlike Ib), and also wore a blouse and a skirt. The two put their heels back on, and went downstairs to meet their friends in the living room, and all of them were gathered around the living room table playing a board game.

"Finally." Aiko cried, "Sheesh, you two took forever!"

Junichi noticed that they were holding hands, "Ah, so you two finally made up. Good."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Mary nervously laughed, "I was a bit preoccupied, and yeah…" she smiled over to Ib who returned it, "We've reached an understanding."

"What's up with the different clothes?" Rin innocently asked.

Both Mary and Ib blushed, and looked away, causing the rest of them to silently gawk at them. Rin blushed, realizing the implications, Junichi blushed, his mind head to a very dirty area, Aiko let out a loud cheer, and Yuki smiled, creepily enough. Still blushing, Mary and Ib sat side by side at the table where their friends were playing the board game, and they decided to join in. The real party could start after this, after all.

XxXxXxX

The months after Mary's birthday were far better than the couple preceding it, since Ib started to acknowledge Mary's existence again, and the two started dating once more. After that, Ib had become more open about their relationship, perhaps due to the fact that she realized how important it was to her, or some other thing. The point was, Ib didn't seem to care whether people saw them kissing in public anymore, and had even initiated a few intimate encounters herself, while they were in a crowded area.

One day, Mary had asked about this change, late in November, a month after they got back together. Ib was currently wearing her favorite paint-stained shirt, and was painting on her canvas, and she paused, turning over to look at Mary.

"I don't know, I just… I guess I just don't care what people think anymore." She shrugged.

"That's it?" Mary asked, "There's nothing else to it?"

"Well, I guess not being able to be with you for a few months kind of taught me how much I actually really value your presence and touch. Being able to have you there with me to kiss and love whenever I want is…" She blushed, looking aside, "it's very exhilarating, I guess. I kind of get really excited when we kiss in public."

"That's why?" Mary couldn't help but laughed, "Because it turns you on?"

"Hey!" Ib gasped, "I didn't say that! I said it's because I missed you and realized that I value you and your love over what others think!"

"Yeah, and being turned on is just an added bonus." Mary cracked.

"Exactly." Ib agreed with her, causing Mary's jaw to drop open. Ib turned back around to continue painting, though Mary could see that Ib was blushing just as brightly as she herself was.

November passed into December, and the two decided to go out for Christmas Eve together. Their date was great for the most part – that year their Christmas wasn't white though, which wasn't too problematic, since both of them hated the cold, but it would have been nice to have a nice layer of snow to at least remind them of the holiday. While out, the two decided to stop at a café that Ib blinked a few times at upon noticing.

Mary walked over, and looked towards the door of the building, letting out a visible breath, she turned to her sister, who was wearing a coat and a long red scarf and asked, "Do you want to go in?"

"No…" Ib mumbled, shaking her head, she turned to look back at Mary, "I remember Garry telling me about getting some macaroons in a café once. I wonder if this was the place he was referring to when he mentioned that."

"We can get some, if you'd like." Mary replied, "I've never tried them before, so it can be fun."

Ib shook her head again, "No… After we see Garry's portrait, we can, but right now it feels like it would be… rude to do it."

"If you say so," Mary shrugged, "want to go get something to eat somewhere else then?"

Ib smiled, "Sure."

Two months after that it was February twenty-second, Ib's birthday. The girls had decided quite a while ago what they planned to do for her seventeenth birthday, and the girls had warned their parents ahead of time, so they wouldn't have to worry about throwing a party. Unfortunately, Ib's birthday fell on a school day, but the two knew immediately where to head once school was out. They both packed up, and headed out from their respective schools, and once it let out, they both boarded different buses that were heading to the same place.

The ride there took quite a while, since the museum was a decent ways away from the city, but eventually they got there. Ib arrived first, stepping out of the bus, and she waited about ten minutes for her sister to arrive at the same spot.

"Hey," Mary smiled at her sister as she stepped down and out of the bus. Ib was still dressed in her school uniform, and she still had her very long ponytail, while Mary was wearing a simple blouse with a jacket over it along with some jeans and shoes. Her blonde hair was again by her shoulders, and she wore her usual make-up.

"Hello," Ib smiled at her sister as she got off the bus, and Ib stood up from the bench she had been waiting on, "Took you long enough."

"Your school was closer," Mary waved off, "Ready to go inside?"

"Yeah," Ib nodded, turning to look at the museum where they had visited almost eight years ago, or in Mary's case, came from. "I'm ready."

Mary took hold of Ib's hand, and the two walked towards the museum, and entered the front lobby, where Ib could see the receptionist desk that she vaguely remembered from so long ago. She walked over with Mary at her side, and the two looked at the woman behind the counter, she had large glasses on her face, and she was writing down some notes while on the phone.

"Hello?" Mary spoke up when the woman refused to acknowledge their presence.

The woman looked up, and nodded, lifting up a finger to tell them to wait a bit, so they did just that, standing there and waiting for the call to be over. The woman continued to chat on the phone for another minute, before she finally hung up, and she smiled brightly up from her chair at the two girls, "Hello, I take it you're both interested in this week's exhibit?"

"Yeah," Mary nodded, "Guertena is pretty… interesting." Mary muttered.

"Oh, I agree." The receptionist claimed, "His works are so bizarre and surreal, it's a pleasure to look at his art."

"I know," Ib nodded, "They're very unique. It's because of him that I like to use surrealism when I paint."

"Oh, you're an artist?"

Mary rolled her eyes as the two girls started chatting, and she looked over at the exhibit floor, wishing that Ib would get it over with. She knew her sister loved art, and she loved her sister for it, but if someone started to talk to her about anything related to art, she seriously wouldn't stop talking about it for days if you didn't tell her to stop.

"Anyway," Mary cut in when there was a lull in their conversation, "Can we please go in now?"

"Oh, right! It's a free exhibit today, but you do need to sign this sheet." She pointed out a piece of paper attached to the clipboard near them, "It's for statistics only. We won't use your name, I promise."

Mary and Ib signed the paper, "There you go." Mary muttered as she signed it.

"You're good to go," the woman smiled, "Enjoy your stay!"

Ib allowed Mary to practically drag her again, and soon they were out on the exhibit floor, Mary letting out a sigh as she leaned against the wall near a painting, "Sheesh!"

"Oh it wasn't that bad," Ib grinned, trying to hold in her laughter, "You're over reacting."

"Whatever," Mary gave her sister a flat gaze, "You don't know how long you can go on about that stuff. I thought I was going to grow white hair for the second there!"

"Honestly…" Ib sighed, though she was still smiling, but that smile fell as she looked up and around the exhibit floor, where there were all sorts of paintings and statues and models all over the place. She turned to look at Mary, "Do you recognize any of these?"

"What?" Mary asked for clarification.

"I mean, do you remember these from the other world?"

Mary nodded, "Yeah. I remember them. That one right there…" She pointed to the headless mannequin of a woman in a yellow dress, there was another beside her with a red dress, and another beside her with a blue dress, "I remember trying to dance with them before…"

"What?" Ib asked, trying unsuccessfully to stifle her chuckle.

"It's true," Mary insisted, "I – I was really bored in there, and I just sort of allowed my imagination to do whatever it could to take me out of it." She sighed, "And this painting beside me is the lady in red, I'm sure you're familiar with her."

"Too familiar…" Ib shuddered, remembering as the woman climbed halfway out of the painting and crawled after her, screaming curses at her and wishing her dead.

"She was like my big sister," Mary smiled fondly, "She would teach me about all sorts of things in the outside world, though, I've come to learn that a lot of it doesn't really apply."

"Like what?"

"She told me that I should find a really rich man and marry him, and then I can be really happy like that…" Mary shook her head, "Weird things like that."

"Oh…" Ib mumbled.

"Anyway, we're here for a reason, but they changed the layout from when we were kids, so it might not be there… Hm, I seem to remember the picture we want to see being on the second floor of the exhibit." Mary explained, looking towards her sister and squeezing her hand, "You're ready to see it, right? You won't freak out or anything?"

"No, I doubt I would freak out," Ib muttered with a roll of her eyes, "But thanks for the concern."

Mary let out a soft chuckle, and then started to lead Ib up the stairs and to the second floor of the exhibit, where there were again paintings all over the white walls of the museum, and models set neatly apart on the floor. Keep a grip on Ib's hand, Mary led her down the exhibit floor until they both stopped, finding what they were looking for.

"Garry…" Ib mumbled, seeing the person for the first time in eight years.

The painting was as they remembered it being when they had left eight years ago. It still displayed the twenty something year old man with his eyes closed, lying asleep or dead – it was difficult to tell which it was – and there were blue roses framing him, and in his hands was a single blue rose as well. Under the painting was the description: The Hanged Man.

Mary let out a sigh, "I – I'm not sorry for what I did to you…"

"Mary." Ib gave her sister a warning glare.

Mary ignored her sister, "But… I acknowledge that what I did was wrong. I know that doesn't make up for what I've done to you, and I know it's selfish to say this, but thank you for providing me with this chance to live."

"I'm sorry, Garry." Ib bowed down to the painting in respect, as if that would do something, "But I'm going to be selfish this once too, and stay with Mary. I know you might not be able to forgive her for what she has done to you, but I promise you that she is keeping me safe."

"That I can promise you," Mary assured the painting, "And… I do regret your death, for what it's worth."

They stayed silent for a little longer, as if expecting something to happen. Mary turned to look at Ib, and noticed that the girl was staring at the painting unblinking, so she gave her hand another gentle squeeze, and noticed Ib looking over to her.

"There's nothing else to really do, is there?"

"Not really," Mary admitted, "Do you feel better?"

"I - I do." Ib admitted, smiling to her older sister, "I don't know why, but I think he's not upset with us, wherever he is." She placed her free hand over her heart, "I think he would understand… He was kind like that."

"He did exchange his life for yours," Mary sighed, "It's… sad that he had to die."

"That almost sounded like you were sorry," Ib pointed out.

"I guess I am, a little bit…" She sighed.

"Well, I guess we can go now." Ib turned to leave, but Mary held her in place, "Mary?"

"Hold on, can we go see the Fabricated World, really fast?"

"The painting?"

"Yes." Mary nodded, "I want to show you something."

Now Ib was curious, unsure of what Mary had in store for her, so she simply nodded, and allowed the taller girl to lead her away. Soon they came to this large stretch of wall, with an absolutely massive painting spread out across it. There were all sorts of images and colors swaying and splashed onto the gigantic picture, and directly underneath it was a plaque that said 'Fabricated World'.

"Ib…" Mary mumbled, "This is where we met, you know, in that other world..."

"Yeah…" Ib nodded, feeling anticipation building inside of her as she looked at the painting - the portal to the other world.

"I don't know if the other side even exists anymore," Mary admitted, "I don't even want to know, honestly."

"I don't really want to find out either," Ib agreed, and turned to Mary, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I wanted to give you this… Since this is the closest I can get to where we first met, and where I first fell in love with you." Mary reached into her pants pocket, and pulled out a small rectangular shaped box.

"Mary?" Ib reached forward and took it, her eyes looking up at Mary expectantly, "Can I?"

"Please do," Mary nodded eagerly, and Ib didn't waste any more time. She slowly opened the box, and saw that there was a heart-shaped locket attached to a chain that was meant to go around her neck, and she looked up at Mary.

"It's beautiful."

"Open the locket." Mary urged her.

Ib nodded, and pressed a button on the side of the small locket, and it popped open, and inside was a picture of the two of them when they were younger. They both must have been only ten years old, and they were both smiling at the camera, their small arms wrapped around each other in complete mirth. Ib could clearly remember the memory – she had Mary had been in their living room playing a board game with their parents, when they took the photo.

"I remember…" Ib mumbled, feeling tears come to her eyes, "Thank you so much!"

"Do you like it?" Mary asked.

"Of course I do," Ib said with a laugh, and she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around her older sister, her friend, and her lover, "It's the best birthday gift I've ever gotten."

Mary smiled, wrapping her arms around Ib, "I'm glad you like it."

Ib nodded, and she closed her eyes, tipping her face up, and Mary knew exactly what that meant Ib wanted to do. She reached a hand up, wiped away some stray strands of hair, and kissed Ib, as she wanted.

As they parted, Ib giggled as she held her tightly, "I love you."

Mary felt pure bliss as she held Ib, "I love you too."

The moment lasted a short while, and eventually the two parted, and left the exhibit shortly after, heading to the bus stop hand in hand. Ib had put the locket around her neck, and she kept reaching up and touching it, happily smiling or giggling as she did so. The two went to the bus stop, and waited there for a little while, and there were a few people there.

"You know," Mary mumbled, "I think we should tell our parents about us."

Ib nodded, "You know what… I think you're right."

Mary blinked in surprise at the girl leaning into her side, and she couldn't help but smile and wrap her arm over her shoulder. Ib was willing to tell the entire world about the two of them, and nothing could have made her happier.

XxXxXxX

"I can't believe it, we're married now." Ib mumbled, sitting on the gigantic queen size bed in their suite they bought for their first stop for their honeymoon, since neither of them had been to Canada, they decided that since they were going to get married there, they might as well go around the country exploring the foreign land, and then they could go south into the United States and explore all around there for a few weeks.

The room itself was massive, as mentioned before there was a gigantic bed against the wall with two dressers – one to each side. There was a doorway to a room with a huge TV and a couch in front of it, and there was another door that led to a massive bathroom that had the biggest bathtub either of them had ever seen, they could easily fit six fully grown men in there very comfortably at the very least, perhaps even more!

Mary was busy putting clothes in the drawers of the dresser, and she turned to look at her wife, "It's exciting, isn't it? I can't wait to explore this country!" At the moment, Mary was dressed in a very nice white dress, not a wedding gown, their wedding was a few days before. She had decided to grow her hair out a bit more, and it now reached slightly down her neck, and it was neatly decorated. On her left hand, neatly set on her ring finger, was a wedding ring.

"Me too," Ib admitted. Like Mary, she was also wearing a nice dress that accentuated her figure quite well. She was wearing the necklace that Mary had gotten her for their birthday so long ago, and she also decided to cut her hair, since she determined that caring for long hair was a huge pain in the backside. She cut it quite a bit, slicing off more than half of it, so it only ran down her shoulders, much like Mary's now. She let it flow freely, deciding not to put it up in a ponytail anymore.

The two had revealed to their parents their relationship soon after getting back from the museum, and as expected, their parents were less than thrilled to know that not only were their daughters both lesbians, but they were in a relationship with each other. Their dad in particular seemed really hard hit by the news, and he ordered them not to see each other anymore, but they had refused, and went to live with Rin for a little while as they sorted out their issues. It had taken a while, but eventually their father and their mother had accepted it, and invited them back.

Over the next few years after that, Ib had gone to college while Mary decided she didn't want to get a higher education. Mary had started working immediately, and the two moved out together, with Mary providing for them financially, while Ib continued her art education. Ib did work a little on the side, but she generally gave most of the money to Mary to deal with, since she was the one more experienced with handling money anyway. It was during Ib's final year of college that Mary finally proposed to her, despite the fact that marriage between persons of the same sex was illegal in their country. A year later, when both of them were twenty-two, they flew out to Canada and got married there.

"So now that it's just us, with all of our friends and family are heading home tonight, what do you want to do?" Mary asked, crawling onto the bed, and wrapped her hands around her wife's body.

"What do I want to do?" Ib asked, turning her head and smiling, her red eyes glimmering happily, "I want to feel my wife's body against my own, that's what." She turned around and wrapped her arms around Mary, and the two kissed.

"I think I can get used to this," Mary decided, crawling to the head of the bed with Ib, both of them lying their heads down on the pillows.

"Get used to what?"

"Calling you my wife," Mary grinned, "Wife, Wife, Wife!"

Ib giggled, "now you're just acting silly."

"I'm just happy," Mary admitted, "I'm happy to be with you, and I'm happy with how my life has turned out. I'm happy that you're done with college, so we can spend more time with each other."

"After our honeymoon I'm going to have to start painting to make use of my education," Ib warned.

"That's fine," Mary shrugged, pressing her body into Ib's as they continued to lay there, "I want to see what your first masterpiece is going to be, I'm excited."

Ib giggled a bit as she nodded, "I'm eager to start."

"Well," Mary sat up, breaking their close embrace, and she stood up away from the bed, and started to take her dress off, "Let's go ahead and do the first thing all newly wedded couples do when they're alone in a hotel like this!"

"Oh?" Ib asked, staring as she watched Mary strip down, "You mean to tell me that we've been newlywed all these years and I didn't know about it?"

"We were just ahead of the game." Mary assured Ib, and she got back into the bed, wearing nothing anymore, and she grinned at Ib, "Now come on, I didn't get naked so you could have some eye candy."

Ib laughed, and started to take her own clothes off as well.

It was strange to think that all of this started from being sucked into a painting over a decade ago, but Ib decided that it was the greatest possible outcome ever. She doubted she could ever be as happy as she was, getting into bed beside her newly wed wife, and touching her body, caressing her face, kissing her luscious lips, and feeling immense pleasure. Garry had once mentioned multiple worlds for each choice a person made, and she now understood what Garry meant when he was telling her about it. Every choice she made has been a good one – whether it has a good or bad outcome. It made her into the person she was today, and she didn't regret a single thing.

She looked into Mary's blue eyes, "I love you."

Mary smiled back, "I love you too."

They leaned forward for another passionate kiss, celebrating the fact that they would spend the rest of their lives together, and honestly, Ib couldn't have been more excited for the future.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

So I decided to make Ib a LOT more timid in this one than she is in 'Years Gone By' due to how she grew up. In YGB she knew she loved Garry, but she knew he would never accept how she felt unless if she pretty much pursued him as aggressively as she could so he'd understand. She gained confidence from how he always treated her as an equal, and she didn't have the social stigma of him being the same gender as her holding her back, not to mention he wasn't her brother.

In this story, Ib is more insecure and timid because she doesn't initially want to accept that she's into girls. She doesn't want to accept that she loves her sister in a romantic sense, and she doesn't want to do it because of the HUGE social stigma it holds in Japan and all around the world still. She does eventually slowly break out of this as the story progresses, but she never gains confidence to the extent that she did in YGB due to this, there's also the fact that Mary is more than willing to be the aggressor in this relationship, so Ib doesn't have to step up to the plate and do that either.

That's what I like about Ib when I make stories of them getting older, since she is nine years old, she can develop in a lot of ways physically and mentally still. For instance, none of us really know what Ib will look like when she's 18, so I decided to make her a pretty small girl in this, while I made Mary pretty tall. I like the contrast between that as well, and it goes against types as well: You'd think that since Mary is the taller one, she'd be more masculine, but she is in fact the more feminine of the two, while Ib tends to be more masculine – she doesn't really care about make-up, clothes, shopping, and stuff that girls stereotypical like to do, like Mary does.

You guys also don't want to know the amount of times I had to go into Google and look up clothes. I didn't even know what a cardigan was prior to writing this – I mean, I've seen it, but I never knew the name of it. There were also a lot of times when I typed in 'How would a girl react to 'whatever'', and I based situations off of what I found. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of girls can get a LOT of grief out of the way if they just TALK ABOUT THINGS instead of assuming the worst!

In conclusion: I put an embarrassing amount of work into this, probably way more than I should have. I love yuri too, so that's probably a big factor as to why I did it, I guess it's an example of Author Appeal, if we were to go by TVtropes. Kind of a bad case of it, perhaps, since the plot for Ib to remember the past gets sidelined in favor of the romantic plot between her and Mary pretty early on and takes over the story for a little while. But hey, the payoff is good, right? It makes Ib's conflicted emotions have more weight, since we know how much she loves Mary.

Thank you all for reading!


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